


To Win A War

by hauntedbyangels



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adventure, After season 1, Angst, Canon Typical Violence, Character Death(s), Drama, F/M, Finished, Fluff, Galra Keith, Galra reveal, Gen, M/M, Original Universe, Shits gon hit the fan, Sorry my friendos, slow burn??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-13
Updated: 2017-04-02
Packaged: 2018-08-14 19:23:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 41,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8025970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hauntedbyangels/pseuds/hauntedbyangels
Summary: The Paladins have been separated, The Galra still hold most of the universe in their hands, and the team has begun to fall apart. Secrets are being kept, trust is fading, and the Legendary Defenders will once again be forced to face themselves and one another.(This Fic takes place right after the end of season one)





	1. Back to the Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all, this Voltron fic takes place right after the end of season one and is purely for fun and because I love writing about space. I've never written any Voltron fics before, so please bear with me on this one. :) I hope you enjoy, the first chapter is rather short, but I hope to be updating regularly.
> 
> Hit me up on my tumblr @siruniwhale.tumblr.com  
> Or @hauntedbyangels if you want to be subjected to my trash blog ;P

Tumbling throughout space without a known destination was as unsettling and horrible as it sounded. A perfectly awful ending to an equally horrible day. It had been a long day for everyone, and being separated throughout space because of the goddamn Galra was the last thing Keith wanted to deal with. 

He could only wonder how Hunk was surviving the torture of being tossed around relentlessly, even while strapped into his lion, it was still pretty shitty.

"You fight like a Galra." What had Zarkon meant by those words? Zarkon was centuries old by now, he must have known the power of every word he weld. Was Keith supposed to be flattered by that statement? No, it had to mean more… right?

Keith shook his head angrily, banishing the words from his mind, it was something that he could think about later, he couldn't be distracted, not when he could land anywhere throughout the entire universe. Finding the others was his first priority. It had to be, or it was likely that his mind would eventually tear itself apart searching for answers.

Gritting his teeth, Keith tried again to reign in the giant lion as he tumbled through space. He had no recollection of time, yet he couldn't have been falling for more than a few minutes. A bright flash occurred outside of his lion, and then he was stilled, floating aimlessly. He seized control of the lion and looked around. There was nothing in sight, far away he could see stars, and something else. A planet in the distance.

For a moment he hesitated, trying his communications, nothing came through his headset but static, and he was certain that no one had been able to hear him.

So he was alone.

Again.

Keith reared his lion towards the planet and began to fly, perhaps the planet would be inhabited and he could find a way to contact his companions. The silence was slowly growing around him, and it was difficult to not be utterly aware of how alone he felt. Even if the other paladins were annoying and got in his way at times, they had become something more than simply fellow paladins—and now, not being able to hear their voices, well he couldn't help but miss them. He knew that he had been with them only moments ago, but all of that time they had spent together on the castleship training and learning their roles in the universe together felt rather far away. Perhaps only now he realized how he had taken those moments for granted.

“Goddammit.” He whispered to himself. He wished he at least had music to play—even something stupid that only Lance would listen to with that cocky son-of-a-bitch smile that he always wore. 

It wasn't until Keith’s hands began to hurt was it that he realized how tightly he was gripping the controls. He was still seething with anger from his fight with Zarkon and now the easiness of the galaxy around him was unbearable. He needed to work off his anger, before it turned into something else entirely. Moments like those made him realize how much he hated being left to his own thoughts without distractions, it was easy enough to recognize that he had major issues, but being alone just made him think about them more, and that alone was enough to make him ready to see Lance’s stupid-ass face again.

Sure, he had dropped out of the academy to pursue the project on Voltron before he knew what it truly was, and he had spent plenty of time alone in that desert, but he had always been occupied, he had always had something more to think about, and now—

God! He just needed to find something to distract him for a bit. He had already sorted through all of his own shit, he didn't need to start questioning his progress now.

Next time he saw Zarkon, Keith would punch him in the face just for the horrible silence he had to deal with in that moment.

Fidgeting restlessly, he continued on, towards that distant planet.

He would go on. He would find his friends again. 

No matter what stood in his way. 

He would find them.

~

“Keith?” Pidge asked “Lance? Shiro? Anyone?!” Her voice grew desperate as she realized that the only thing coming through her headset was static. Without hesitation, Pidge pulled off her helmet to check the wiring within it and to fiddle with her communicator before trying again.

“Can anybody hear me?” She asked again and waited. Nothing. What was the use of the paladin’s tech if it stopped so easily. She made a mental note to upgrade their communications tech once they all made it back to the castleship.

If they all made it back. 

“Don’t think like that. We’re all getting back alive.” Pidge whispered solemnly to herself. “God, I’ll drag everyone back half-dead if I have to.”

Something crackled through her communicating receiver, Pidge frowned before place her helmet back over her head.

Another crackle in the static. Someone was trying to reach her. Quickly, Pidge opened the laptop that she always kept handy and fumbled with the wiring in her paladin helmet, hooking it up to her laptop easily.

“Hello?” She asked again and waited.

Another crackle of communication that she couldn't decipher, yet she was able to track the general direction it was coming from with a bit of work. She began to pilot her lion in that direction, waiting to see if another crackle came through.

“Can anybody hear me? Come on guys!” 

“Pidg—“ The communication crackled again before it could finish, but she still instantly recognized the voice as Hunks. 

“Hunk?”

“YEh I’m—blerghhhhh!” For a moment Pidge almost wrote the noise off as another communication error, that was, before she realized that Hunk had likely lost his space-goo. She frowned in disgust.

“Are you okay Hunk? Where are you?”

“Yeah, you know, I would be better if Zarkon hadn't made us literally spin through space. Like remember that time the we went on that spinning ride at that one amusement park?”

“You mean the one where you puked everywhere after words?”

“Yeah, that one! Well, I feel like that, but worse, and I think it’ll take a few weeks to get this lion to smell the way it used to…” Hunk finished, sounding a bit disgruntled and like he was possibly pouting. Pidge rolled her eyes but still smiled in relief to herself. She was confident that she could handle anything herself, but it was still a relief to know that she was not alone.

“Have you made connection with any of the others yet Hunk?” Pidge asked, typing rapidly, trying to search for any signs of possible technology.

“No, you’re the first one I’ve heard from. But, when I wasn't puking, I was fiddling around with some spare parts inside here, and i think if I had a satellite, or maybe some makeshift thing that’s kinda similar, maybe I could somehow track the other lions… you still have your laptop, right?” Hunk might have had a point, but the technology that they would need to build a tracking device like that, even just one that read the energy of the lions, that would take time, and materials that they didn't have any access to anymore.

“Of course I have my laptop, who do you think I am?”

“Just checking. Uhm, maybe we should find each other first, then we can make a plan. I can’t see you anywhere.”

“Just stay where you are, I’ll find you.”

“Not an option, I’m currently trying to navigate through a meteor belt, anything like that close to you?” Hunk asked, he sounded like he was going to be sick again.

Pidge looked around until she found the edge of the nearby belt int the distance. “Yeah, I think I might have found it…”

“Right well imma just—blerhghh!” Pidge cringed at the sound of Hunks vomiting. “…I think I’m going to land… Big Meteor, I’ll wait for you here… tell me when you find me.”

“Got it.” She responded lightly, tapping through feeds on her laptop again. There was no one else near them, nothing within miles of where they had been dropped.

Pidge sighed. It was going to be a long day. 

~

Lance didn't know if he was screaming, crying, yelling, or all three as he spun out of control. He watched as his companions were thrown out into space, and he quickly followed. Yet, when he emerged, he was barreling straight for the ground of some foreign planet. He could only pray that the planet was not inhabited by the Galra, if it came down to another fight, Lance would just assume that fate hated him and desperately wanted to make his life as difficult as possible. He almost sighed in exasperation instead of horror as he slammed into the ground, jerking against the straps that held him in place.

He pulled his lion out of the ditch, looking around for any signs of life before sitting his lion down and trying to get a handle on everything that had happened. He tapped his helmet, listening for anyone. He was hardly unsettled when he didn't hear anything. Either something was jamming his communications, or his companions were simply too far away. They could be light-years away for all he knew.

The thought alone of the other paladins being so far away made him hesitate before trying to figure out where he was. Light years… how were they supposed to find each other when the entirety of galaxies could lie between them? Lance shook his head, he wasn't one to get down over simple things like this, all he had to do was have faith, if he could believe that they would find each other than they would eventually. All he had to do was stay positive and search for anything, or anyone that could help him.

For a moment he observed the deserts around him. That was before vehicles started rushing towards his position, lasers and guns pointed in his direction. Lance was about to curse violently and pounce before he realized just where he was.

He had landed on earth. The Lion had fallen right back to where he had started. And now, he had fellow humans ready to shoot him down. Fate was leading him in one big circle.

He had finally made it home.

~

“Shiro?” A voice prodded him. His head ached, his arm ached, God, he couldn't focus at all, what had happened to his vision. “Shiro!”

Finally, everything became clear again, they had been on their way back to the castleship when—oh god, where the hell had they ended up? 

Allura was with him, gripping his arm and looking at Shiro with concern in her eyes. “Sorry,” He muttered. “I’m okay.”

“You’ve been doing this for the past hour Shiro! What did that witch do to your head? You can hardly sit up.” Allura countered quickly. “We need to land as soon as possible so you can rest.”

“I said: I’m fine!” 

“I think we both know that that’s a lie, Shiro. There’s an uninhabited planet—or more of a meteor I suppose—near here. You need to land so you can rest and regain your strength.” She pushed, squeezing his arm until it hurt. He tried to swat her away, but found himself even too weak to achieve that.

“We need to find the others—“

“Yes, but it can wait!” Allura pointed him towards a large, hulking space rock that was coming up on his right. “Now land. We can discuss finding the other paladins after I know that I can trust your judgement.”

“I can’t just leave them out there Allura, I am their leader, if we wait too long, we might never get them back.” Shiro managed, trying to pull his lion away from the rock.

“Do you truly believe that I am not aware of that? I understand your concern, but right now, you need to focus on yourself for once. You are no good to them if you can not function properly. They need your judgement Shiro, and currently, I do not believe the you are capable of leading anyone. Now, land the bloody lion!”

Before he could object again, his head splintered in pain, images, voices, all of it spilled through him again. Faintly, he could hear Allura’s voice. A moment later he felt the impact as his lion landed and Allura pulled him from his chair.

It wasn't long before he faded into darkness, unconsciousness whisking him away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to marry my best buddy Stego. They are so adorable and funny!! AAHhhh!


	2. The Prophetess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah ha! Another chapter! I really enjoyed writing this, so I hope you all enjoy reading it! This chapter was originally going to follow the same format as the first, switching from POVs, but then I started writing about Keith and I couldn't stop writing about my angsty mullet son. So, low and behold: A whole Keith chapter! Sorry if you find it confusing and/or vague, if that happens, I'll tell you now that its supposed to be somewhat confusing and/or vague. So enjoy the ride, my dudes! I'll be updating again as soon as I can. :)  
> Hit me up on tumblr: uniwhaletrash.tumblr.com   
> _________________________________________________

Keith would be damned if he had to spend even one more hour flying towards the unknown planet. He had been flying for hours now, every minute he flew felt like another moment wasted. It was difficult not to be frustrated, he was flying  the fastest lion in the crew, so why the hell wasn't that planet coming up any faster? He was tired of dodging through meteor belts, feeling the emptiness around him, and he was exhausted from the lack of rest he had gotten since they had set out to rescue Allura--against Keith’s better judgment.

Look where it had gotten them. If only they had stopped to think about it, if only they had taken the time to regroup before they had gone barreling into the center of the goddamn Galra base.If they had stopped to think about it, leaving Allura behind would have been the best option by far. The Galra would not kill her, she was too valuable as a hostage, they could have taken the time to formulate a plan.

It was evident now that the paladins had not been thinking clearly.

As if Keith didn't already know that, the others had practically crucified him for simply suggesting that they leave the princess behind.

But Shiro… God, the look on his face when he had made it back to the ship without Allura… It was the face of a man who had already lost too many companions, the look of a man who could not bear to think about losing anyone ever again. Keith liked to think that if Shiro had been thinking straight he would have agreed with him, but Shiro had already lost too much, and the look on his face had said that he would never lose another companion again.

Keith couldn't quite say that he knew what it felt like, that he would have still chosen to leave any one of the other paladins behind if it had been them instead and it meant keeping the rest of the group together. He didn't know what it felt like to feel like he had abandoned someone, but he sure as hell knew what it felt like to be abandoned—and in a way, he felt that his opinion should have been considered with far more weight than it had been. He knew abandonment, it wasn't something he would ever willingly wish upon someone else, but when it came to weighing losses, he still couldn't understand why they had gone back for the princess so quickly. 

They had risked _everything_ for _one_ person.

Perhaps he was just too fucked up to understand the trust and love it took to act so selflessly.

Keith was sick of feeling like there was something wrong with him.

The planet grew nearer and nearer, growing in size as he approached. It was mostly blue with small deformed islands of green land. For a moment, he thought about Earth staring at that planet, he missed it a bit, then again, everyone did now and then. Earth was where he grew up, but it had never been a home to him. He still did not know what home was supposed to feel like, not when he constantly moved from home-to-home, never really feeling anything towards his various foster parents. No one had ever wanted him, no one had ever needed him. He didn't know what home was supposed to feel like, but he sometimes liked to believe that it was similar to the way becoming the pilot of the Red Lion had made him feel, as a paladin, someone needed him.

“Okay, Red, time to figure out how to find the others.” He said coolly to his lion, mostly trying to get his own spirits up. His angsty, teenage bullshit could wait for another time, there were far more pressing matters at hand. His lion sped up in response, zooming towards the planet with efficient ease.

~

A few hours after Keith had landed on the unknown planet, he was already regretting his decision. The island he had landed on was teeming with alien wildlife, and he constantly felt as if someone—or something—was watching him. Little bugs, that reminded him of mosquitos except slightly smaller, kept biting his neck and any other skin they could find. He cursed violently and waved another swarm of the tiny devils away. 

Perhaps leaving his lion to search the island had been a mistake after all, but the forests were far too dense to search while in his lion, so he had been reduced to this. Yet, if there was wildlife, there was the chance of some kind of advanced race on the planet as well, a race that could communicate with him in some way. So far the paladin's technology had allowed them to communicate with all races that they had come across.

He had asked Coran after a few weeks because all-in-all it was highly unlikely that all of the various aliens they had met just happened to speak English. Coran had explained to him that the paladins had developed technology to translate everything they heard and said. The idea of it reminded Keith of a show he had seen on television when he was young, he vaguely remembered that it was a man who traveled through space and time in a blue box.

Keith pushed his bangs out of his face, he already felt gross, coated in sweat, and suspiciously itchy from head to toe. The sooner he could get off this planet the better. It was hard not to take his Bayard and cut down the entire forest while he went. It was lucky for the forest's inhabitants that he had enough respect for nature not to simply destroy it all since he sure as hell did not have the patience to deal with all of this nature shit.

_Keith._

Something tugged at him, almost as if pulling his very soul towards it. Keith staggered a few steps before regaining control of himself and yanking back against that pull. He spun, searching for the source of that tug. He could have sworn that his name had been called, the voice had been purely unidentifiable, neither male nor female, just plain, and almost coaxing in a way. Keith gritted his teeth, sweat trickling down the side of his face and neck. He desperately yanked against the feeling that was pulling him on. For the first time since they had been separated, Keith began to feel fear brewing within him, his stomach was in knots.

That force pulled him again, making him stumble and trip over the tangled vines on the forest floor. He groaned, slowly pushing himself up again and using a nearby tree to steady him. Keith looked around again, there was nothing nearby that could be causing that feeling. He gripped his Bayard tightly and took a step forward, complying with the outside force. It didn't seem like he had much of an option besides to follow it.

The force pulled him deeper and deeper into the forest until he had absolutely no chance of finding his way back to Red. As annoying as being lead around on an invisible leash was, Keith tried to reign in his impatience and focused on making his way through the forest without tripping again, he was still uncomfortably moist from falling earlier and tried his best not to repeat the incident.

_Keith!_

The voice rang through his head again, more insistent this time, another violent tug shook him, but he managed not face-plant into the mud. Keith quickened his pace until he rounded a bend in the forest where the trees broke into a wide, open clearing. In the middle stood a large stone with whorls of ancient paint covering it. 

For a long moment, Keith merely stared at the rock, unable to make himself move towards it. The rock was obviously alien, so saying it had an otherworldly presence would be fairly accurate, but it wasn't only the presence that made him hesitate—God, he had tangled with plenty of otherworldly creatures and objects—but this was something entirely different. 

His feet began to move without the consent of his consciousness, but he did not resist it. As he neared the stone, that presence, the force that had brought him there, it drew him close. He hated how powerful that thing was, but he obeyed nonetheless—if only because he knew that he could not beat it head on.

He reached out, setting his hand against the stone tentatively, not quite certain that that was what he was supposed to do. A moment later, he got his answer as the reality around him changed. 

Keith tried to pull his hand away from the stone in shock, he tried, and failed. His hand was completely stuck to that ancient stone. The forest around him disappeared and changed into something else entirely. His hand was finally released and Keith stumbled away from the stone, looking around for any sense of where he could possibly be. It appeared to be some kind of stone room that the stone had taken him to. There were carvings on the wall, and straw scattered the floor. Across the room, there was a tattered curtain that separated the room he had appeared in from another. Keith stepped towards the curtain, knowing in an instant that the whoever was behind that ancient force—that _power_ —was behind that curtain.

“Hello?” Keith asked cautiously as he approached the curtain. “Is anyone here?”

_Approach mortal._

The voice again. Keith tried not to let it bother him that something had found its way inside his head so easily. He hated feeling so predictable, yet he approached the curtain without retaliation. He pushed the tattered curtain aside and stepped into the next room. That room was much larger and lighter than the one he had been transported to. It was circular and lit by hundreds of candles. The floor had ancient markings, all swirling with the circle towards the center of the room where an ancient being sat, its back turned to Keith as he stepped into the room. 

He froze as he saw the creature in the center of the room. It did not turn to look at him, or to reveal its face. Instead, it simply sat, covered in a tattered cloak, the only visible part of the creature was gray-bone thin arms and wrinkled hands.

_So you have finally made your way to me, Paladin._ The creature said, yet its mouth did not move, the husk of that creature stayed completely still. Keith realized that there must have been some kind of telepathic link that the creature had established, so the ancient thing did not have to use any form of vocal communication.

“Who are you?” Keith asked, anger evident in his voice. “ _What_ are you?”

_I am life, I am the wind, I am the answer to all of your questions. I do not die, I do not sin, I am the universe’s very essence._ The thing replied. 

Keith frowned. “Cut the poetic bullshit. What are you called?”

To his surprise, a laugh rippled through his mind. _You have no control, your anger surfaces without your consent. I am called The Prophetess, young paladin._

He decided to ignore the part about his anger being out of control. “Why did you lead me here? I need to find my companions, we’ve been scattered throughout the universe. Can you help me find them?” 

_So many questions, so little gratitude. I cannot give if I do not take, I cannot live if you do not break._

It took a tremendous amount of effort to not activate his Bayard and cut that hag in half. “What is that supposed to mean?” His hands were clenched into fists, his patience long since frayed. If the damn thing didn't start answering his questions soon then there was nothing stopping him from turning around and reactivating the stone. He could find another source, some other planet that actually had the technology he needed, not some riddle-speaking hag.

_If you are to keep your place amongst the Paladins, you must learn patience, and you must learn to decipher each word they say. You are not like them, you will never truly be part of their family, how can you be? You have secrets, you think you’ve gotten away with it, you think they won’t find out—_

“What the hell are you talking about?” Keith interrupted. “What _secrets?”_

_Oh…oh, OH! The boy doesn't even know his own secrets! He does not know himself._

Keith growled, turning to leave the Prophetess and go find his Lion. He was sick of all of her confusing riddles dancing around in his head. He didn't have _time_ for this! 

_You feel unappreciated, ignored, and you’re angry, there is so much rage in you Paladin. You do not know your lineage, you do not know how your rage will change you. Once you are through, you will not even recognize yourself. You will change Paladin, and I_ guarantee _that you will hate yourself when you do._ The Prophetesses voice was mocking, and still as smooth as warm honey. Keith shivered, taking another step back, away from the centuries-old creature.

“Show me where my friends are.” He tried to demand. His anger flared again when he found that his voice shook with every word he spoke.

_Scattered… Blue has found his way home… He has family there, do you expect him to come back to you? Do you not look at him intently, do you not think about him? He does now view you as you view him. Yellow and Green are together, they play in fields of floating rocks, far, far away. I cannot find the last one, his energy is dwindling. Find him, or he may be lost forever._ The Prophetess cackled. _You will break, and when you do, be ready to reign hell down upon those who turn on you. Voltron can not save you now, not when the world will learn to hate you, Keith. Ah yes, it is foretold, that you will tear them apart. Your blood is not what it seems. You are not one of them Keith. You are not of their world._

Keith felt himself trembling. He still did not have any of the answers he needed, yet her words were like knives as he tried to pull himself away from her presence. She spoke in riddles, in secrets that he could not decipher. He needed to get away from this _thing_ , he needed a safe place to think everything through.

“You haven't told me anything yet, _Prophetess_.” He snarled.

_In time, you will realize that I have told you everything._ With those words, the gripping force that had radiated from the hag, and had brought him to that place faded. Keith stumbled away, no longer in the grasp of those ancient claws. 

Keith couldn't help as he sunk to his knees, knowing that he was no longer observed. Exhaustion overwhelmed him as he leaned against the cool stone wall.

_We’re like brothers._ Hunk had once said to both Lance and him, that had been after the time they had successfully formed Voltron on their own, without any outside force. 

_You will never truly be part of their family._ The Prophetess had hissed. Had that creature truly known the weight of those words? Keith sunk against the wall, trying to get that infernal voice out of his head. Like hell, he didn't know himself! That thing did not know what it was talking about, it couldn't have known what it was talking about… 

He still had not learned how to reach his friends. Even through the crushing exhaustion that weighed him down, Keith stood.

There was still work to do.


	3. Hope for Another Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my dudes, sorry if this chapter is a bit boring, tbh I was trying to write this while sick and my mind is a bit muddled (literally sneezing and coughing every two seconds is slightly distracting) but here it is anyways! Stay cool my friends :)  
> ______________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Well…” Coran said slowly, observing the feeds of energy that the castleship intercepted while trying to lock onto the Lions locations. He had tried multiple times now to get a stable connection of communication to the Paladins, so far, he hadn't been able to find them throughout the universe.

“ _Quiznak!_ ”

~

Galaxy Garrison vehicles rushed towards Lance’s position with weapons readied to take out the potential threat. It could hardly be a coincidence that he had landed there of all places, Blue must have known where to take him, even if Lance appeared to be a hostile force, he could explain himself, and now that he was back on Earth, there had to be some way to get a message out through the galaxy. The other Paladins couldn't be too far behind him, right? They couldn't possibly have fallen _too_ far away from him, no, they at least had to be within the same galaxy—if he were lucky they might even be within the solar system.

The hope took a weight off of Lance’s shoulders. The others were capable of taking care of themselves, so he could focus on the situation in front of him instead. No use in worrying too much about the other Paladins.

He was home. Earth. Something tightened in his chest, even as he was ordered to surrender and reveal himself. He had no idea how long he had been gone for, it was pointless to keep track while they had been flying around space saving planets and alien species from the Galra. He had missed Earth, all of the defenders had, except for maybe Keith—that guy hadn't been leaving anything truly important behind as far as Lance was aware.

Lance made his Lion lay down and stood, stretching for a moment before turning to exit Blue, his hands poised up so the people of the garrison would not shoot. There was alarmed shouting as the giant Lion opened its mouth and Lance sauntered out, his Bayard was at his side in case the need arose, but he was confident that he could handle the situation with flawless diplomacy. He had always viewed himself as a fairly cool and smooth person anyway.

“Keep your hands where we can see them!” Someone yelled. “Surrender your weapons and your ship immediately!”

Lance merely smiled. “Calm down, I come in peace! Take me to your leader, and all that.” He moved to pull off his helmet but hesitated. Perhaps he should keep it a bit longer just in case.

There was a bit of confusion amongst the Garrison officials who had come out to intercept him. In total, there were twelve men and four vehicles. They all bore weapons and did not drop them until the officer commanding told them to. Lance had seen this particular officer around the Garrison but had never actually known what he was there for. The man did not monitor simulations, nor did he teach, it seemed he was more one of the leading officers who monitored potential threats and alien life—which was likely why Lance found himself face-to-face with the man now.

The Garrison official stepped forward, giving Lance a one-over, recognition flickering in his eyes. “It seems that we’ve found one of our missing cadets.” He said lowly, his eyes cold. Lance’s cocky smile faltered a bit. They had been proclaimed missing, not traitors or dead even. Perhaps the Garrison did not know about the role they had played in rescuing Shiro, and perhaps the officials would never have to know if Lance played his cards right.

Lance nodded a bit solemnly, thinking about how Keith would handle a scenario like this. Keith would handle it indifferently while laying his cunning trap around the officials to protect the safety of the other Paladins, he wouldn't want to rope them into any undiscussed agreements or terms.

“I think it would be best if we were to discuss the past few months back in the safety of the Garrison while my men take a look at your ship.” Not a question, a demand. Lance looked over at the Blue Lion, who had already shut its mouth. Lance could feel its presence monitoring him.

“Fine.” Lance shrugged. “But I think you’ll find my ship has a mind of its own when it comes to being inspected by anyone who is not the pilot.” The official gave him a dirty look but did not argue, only gestured for Lance to follow him to the vehicle. The Paladin hesitated again, he couldn't just leave his Lion out in the open like this, not when it was so easy to track the Lion’s energy.

Yet, he supposed that there wasn't anything he could do about it, the Garrison Official probably would not take well to him moving the giant, robotic Lion any closer to their headquarters. So the only option was to follow the Official’s lead, for now at least. He was a Defender of the Universe, which meant that he was no longer under the Galaxy Garrison’s jurisdiction—not as if he had followed their rules _before_ becoming a Paladin of Voltron, but now he _especially_ didn’t have to follow their rules.

He tried to hide his glee, he had never particularly believed in rules anyway. He had always been a bit looser than the rest of them, he knew how to have a good time.

Lance couldn't say the same about the Garrison Official, who was looking about ready to start throwing punches if Lance did anything out of line. It crossed his mind a few times as they drove back towards the headquarters that he could very well be their prisoner now, but if that was the case, they would have likely disarmed him completely from the beginning. The Galaxy Garrison officers were smart, they knew that there was a story behind the disappearance of the three cadets, and supposed ‘rescue’ of Takashi Shirogane. They knew that there had to be a story behind their sighting of an alien ship within their solar system, and the strange energy that had been interfering with their technology, and Lance landing on earth was their moment to learn about what was happening.

Little did they know that the world as they knew it would change if they understood the true extent of the Universe and what had been happening for over ten-thousand years. The Garrison did not know how many planets there were, how many species of aliens there were, all capable of speech and creating their own technologies.

If Lance hadn't seen it himself, if he hadn't been chosen as a Defender of the Universe, then there was no way he would have believed it himself. He was beginning to realize this as they pulled to a stop and the Garrison Official led him into the headquarters—the academy which he worked so hard in to become a pilot only to give it up.

He missed those days, when life had been simple, it had been so easy to make decisions and know how they would turn out. Looking back at the person he’d been onlya few months ago, he knew that he was not returning to Earth as the same person. He had changed through the battles, through the pain, and through the responsibilities that came with piloting one of the Lions of Voltron. There was a certain weight that came with bearing so many lives on his shoulders—he tried to keep the mood light through humor and being the idiot he generally liked to be—but still, he couldn't help but feel as if the past few months had been more like years. He had aged in that time, perhaps not matured in _every_ aspect, but experience had taught him far more lessons than life on Earth had.

Before Lance could truly get his thoughts together, he had been led into one of the offices. He tugged off his helmet while fidgeting nervously. A few moments later, the officer who had apprehended Lance took a seat and gestured for him to do the same. He obliged, fiddling with his Bayard, careful not to activate it. Little did lance know, his nervous fidgeting gave him away as a child. The Garrison officer was following his every movement.

“Tell me, Lance McClain, how _exactly_ did you end up with an alien ship and where have you _been_? Your families have blamed us for you and your fellow cadet’s disappearances. Did you even consider them when you decided to ‘free’ Takashi Shirogane? Did you think of your family when you disappeared off of the face of the Earth? This makes you look like you are conspiring with Aliens, McClain. You best have an explanation for all of this.” The official’s cold voice was unsettling and had Lance fidgeting in his seat again.

His family had to deal with his disappearance while he was off saving galaxies, they had no way to know whether or not he was dead. “I don’t have a simple way of explaining, and the story would take far too long. I’m only back on Earth because I was separated from my fellow Paladins of Voltron.” Lance said, staring at the desk instead of meeting the man’s eyes. “There are alien forces out there like nothing you could ever imagine. All you need to know is that my companions and I are working to protect this world, as well as any of the others.”

“Do you forget that you are from this world yourself boy? Do not pretend like you know what’s best for anyone more than yourself, _boy._ ”

Lance shook his head, he was shaking as he stood. Damn it, Keith would have been able to face this man without a thought, damn Keith, always better than Lance at every-fucking-thing. With a calming breath, Lance met the officials eyes, pushing the other man from his mind at that moment. Keith had left Earth behind without a regret, he had nothing to lose, whereas Lance still had his family to worry about. He could not compare to Keith in many ways, and it was difficult to admit his jealousy and admiration for the way Keith could move forward without looking back. Sometimes Lance was convinced that Keith would even leave him behind without looking back, and that’s why he always had to be better, or why he always _tried_ to be better even when he knew that he could not compare.

“I’m sorry that I cannot answer your questions. Right now I need you find my friends. I need to use your computers and anything I can to try and track our ship… I mean, if Pidge were around it would be easier, but she’s not, so it’s just me, but I can still—“

“Stop your babbling _Paladin.”_ The Garrison Official snapped. “We can hardly refuse to help you, but in exchange, I want information about this alien force that is supposedly threatening galaxies.”

“Okay, it’s a deal, my dude,” Lance said with as much chill as he could muster, trying not to sound too much like a walking meme. The official raised an eyebrow but nodded nonetheless.

“My name is Ken Gundan, you can refer to me as Officer Gundan.” The official finally said. That was right, Lance remembered now, he had heard the Officials name in passing during his time in the Garrison.

“Well then, Officer Gundan,” Lance started a bit weakly, meeting Gundan’s eyes again. “You might want to take notes on what I’m about to tell you.”

Gundan nodded, standing as well. “Then let’s get to work.”

~

“Hunk, you’re not gonna believe this!” Pidge beamed. They had found each other hours ago and had begun working together to try and make a connection a to the other Paladins. “I traced the frequency that you picked up and was able to identify our exact location! We’re in the meteor belt a few hundred miles from Kerberos!”

“Holy shit, you mean we’re within flying distance of Earth?” Hunk asked. “We could stop by and pick up some beef jerky, like a lifetime supply of it.”

Pidge rolled her eyes, typing a bit faster, deciding that Hunk’s comment wasn't worth responding to at the moment. A few more clicks had Pidge smiling even wider. “We’re definitely going to make an Earth stop Hunk, make sure to pick up donuts with that jerky of yours. I tracked Lance back to Earth.”

Hunk made a _whoop!_ that was so loud in her helmet, Pidge winced. “Do you think we’ll have time to let our families know that were alright? Because if my mom thinks I’m dead, she will literally kill me.”

“I don’t know Hunk… Is it really a good idea to get them involved in this?” Pidge asked quietly. “If we suddenly show up again out of the blue we would have to explain everything, and I don’t know if its smart to put this weight on our families as well, not when the responsibility is ours to carry alone.”

“Ah, yeah, I guess…” Hunk said a bit dispiritedly. “Maybe once we defeat the Galra…”

“And find my family,” Pidge added, mostly to herself. She could almost feel Hunk nodding on the other end.

“It’s settled then. Let’s go get our buddy.” Hunk said, rearing his Lion and pushing off of the meteor. Pidge stared at her laptop screen for another few minutes before shutting it and sliding it between her side and the arm of the chair.

Pidge turned the Green Lion into space and began to lead the way towards Earth. It was time to regroup, it was time to form another plan, and it was time to settle scores with the Galra empire once and for all. The time had come for the Universe to change, and with that change would come a new era, one of peace amongst worlds. It would take work, but it would come to pass.

Pidge would see to it that the Universe changed. She would find her father and brother, and then when the time of peace came, the burden would lift off of her shoulders, and she would no longer have to fear losing the people she loved. She looked forward to the day where she could sleep without waking up with a cold dread running through her veins. The day when she could live at peace once again was one she strived for.

Hope of that time is what kept her going most days...

Yet she knew in her heart that she might never live to see it.


	4. One Step Closer

Shiro was on the edge, he knew he was by the sound of the silence and the peace it brought him. He knew that he should let go, that he was beyond saving at this point. He would never be the perfect leader, no, how could he even call himself their leader after letting that witch use him for whatever she pleased. 

She had recreated him in that year, they had taken his arm, and given him a new one, one that was built to kill and serve the Galra empire. He had fought to survive, the only good thing he could do was make sure that Matthew Holt had gotten out of that place before they tried to use him in the same way.

_How could a monster like you ever be a Paladin of Voltron?_ Shiro shivered as that Sendak’s voice ripped through him. He thought he had been going crazy that day, he knew he had trouble suppressing his trauma, but that day it had felt out of control. He was terrified of falling back into Galra hands, and he would go to any measures to prevent it. 

He knew he was on the edge of never coming back to reality because reality hurt so much and had never been kind, and wherever he was now, drifting between worlds, was so peaceful. He hadn't felt that sort of peace, that warm _quiet_ in such a long time. He knew that once he fought against the dream and opened his eyes again everything would start to hurt. It would be so much easier to just give up.

Yet he hadn't given up once during his imprisonment, and just because it seemed like the Universe would never get better didn't mean that he could simply give up hope. No, he would hold on, for the other Paladins, for the Universe, and for himself.

Takashi Shirogane opened his eyes.

 

“Oh, thank the heavens! You’ve been out for hours…” Allura cried as Shiro blinked away the stinging in his eyes. His head felt dizzy and distant, but he managed to sit up anyways, a hand braced behind him, and one braced against his head.

“Has anyone tried to contact us yet?” Shiro asked weakly. Looking up at the control panel of his Lion. Allura was standing above him, arms crossed. 

“You’ve been awake for all of two ticks and you’re already worrying about everyone else again. So typical of you, Shiro.” She said, turning back to the controls. “But I managed to get a message out to Coran. He’s working on tracking the other Lions down while heading here to pick us up.” 

“But none of the other Paladins have managed to contact us?”

“Not yet, but we have no way to tell how far any of them landed from us.” Allura was calm, relaxed even as she tapped the chair gently. “All we can do is wait until they find us or we find them, it’s simple as that, worrying will not get us anywhere.”

Shiro nodded slowly, mustering enough strength to stand and hobble to the chair. 

“Plus,” Allura started again. “You’re in no condition to be scrambling all over the Universe trying to find them. I’m confident that they can take care of themselves.”

For a moment Shiro wanted to argue back that they shouldn't just be leaving them alone out there, that they were all used to having each others backs. Instead Shiro nodded, too tired to fight her as he sat down, head still pulsing with a vigorous headache. 

“They’ll be fine,” Allura said again.

“I know,” Shiro said through gritted teeth.

“Do you?”

“Yes. How long until Coran gets here?”

Allura shrugged. “Any tick now.”

“Good,” Shiro started, taking a look out into the space around them. “Then, I guess we wait.”

~

Finding his way back to the Lion was hell after being tugged through that forest on a leash. It took awhile, but he found his way back to Red over time. When he made it back he got inside the Lion and gladly took his armor off, sitting down in his shirt and jeans to try and cool off. He was soaked with sweat and couldn't stop feeling like bugs were crawling all over him. He just wanted to leave that goddamn planet behind and never look back. He didn't care about the Prophetesses words, he’d find his friends another way and forget the encounter had ever happened. Screw that ancient witch, or whatever the hell that thing was. It spoke nonsense, it wasn't possible for something to see into the future or to simply know things like that. 

But it had known his name. So surely—

No, he wouldn't think about it, whatever the Prophetess had meant by those words was likely meant to confuse and distract him from the task ahead. 

Keith took a deep breath and scrubbed at his face with his hands. He felt gross, a shower would be well appreciated when he found his way back to the castleship—or when he found somewhere that actually _knew_ what showers were. 

Keith smirked to himself before turning his Lion around and bounding back up into space. 

Flying through space was actually quite relaxing for that time. He hadn't made peace with anything of the wild thoughts that ran through his head, but after the damn Prophetess it had been easier to think objectively about finding his team first and then trying to sort through all of the nonsense that he had been thrown at him in the past twenty-four hours. 

He made it back out into the depths of space and began speeding away from that damn planet. He supposed he would have to keep repeating the process until he found someone or _something_ that could help him. So he flew for awhile before letting the Red Lion take over with autopilot so Keith could shut his eyes for a few hours. He trusted the Lion to take over completely, they were bound together, so leaving the giant space cat in charge, Keith closed his eyes and leaned his head back against his seat.

A few more moments, and he was asleep.

~

Keith awoke to an impact as his Lion landed. He groaned audibly and opened his eyes to look at where they had landed. It seemed that they had landed in some kind of field that stretched out for miles, a range of large mountain-like piles of clay, rubble, and moss stood tall on his left. Red laid itself down in the grass, waiting for Keith to get out and start searching. There had to be some reason why the Lion had landed in that particular place. It was an effort not to simply curl back up in his jacket and sleep for another few hours.

A moment passed, and then another, and it became fairly evident that sleeping any longer was not why Red had brought him here. 

Keith watched carefully as a small, cloaked figure approached Red cautiously, unaware that he was inside watching, waiting, holding his Bayard close and ready to use the Lion to attack if the need arose.

The figure stopped, it was holding a staff of some kind, ready to attack as well. The creature did not seem hostile, instead, it seemed genuinely curious and concerned that whatever had landed on its planet would threaten its way of life. Keith hesitated for a moment, as a Paladin of Voltron he was spreading peace throughout the Universe, so why should that time be any different? 

Keith stood, pulling his helmet on in case the planet did not contain a gas that his body could function on. He didn't bother with his Paladin armor but grabbed his Bayard to be safe. The creature had a weapon so he should be prepared as well.

Keith made his way out of the Lion as it opened its mouth and let him out. The cloaked creature reared back in surprise, raising the staff it weld in defense. Keith raised his hands to show that he had no intention of attacking.

“Greetings?” Keith called out, dropping his hands a bit. The creature cocked its head, red eyes peering out at him from under deep cowl of the cloak.

It took a tentative step forward. “You are not from here.” It said lowly,voice soft and airy. “What are you?”

"I'm a Earthling, what are you?" He shot back, the thing straightened itself at his words, he could see now that it was feminine in the way it stood. Its long, silky hair fell over its shoulders as it pulled back its hood. The creature had dark gray skin, black hair, and shining red eyes.

"I am Jalda." It said. "Those are my people."

"What is your name?" He asked, keeping a safe distance as he observed the field around him.

"I am called Lryda. What are you called?" Lryda asked, those red eyes were on his Lion instead of him. She shivered, taking a few more steps away from both the Lion and Keith. The Paladin leaned against his ship, watching the Jalda closely, he had not heard of her race before, but there were many aliens which he had never encountered, and the Universe was full of surprises. 

"My name is Keith." 

"Keith?"

"Keith."

"Your name is very strange," Lryda said, dark, delicate eyebrows furrowed. Keith then noticed the sharply pointed, elongated fangs that poked out of her mouth as she talked. If he hadn't known better, Keith would have thought that Lryda was a vampire. 

"Not on my planet, it's actually a fairly common name on Earth." He explained, deciding not to point out how strange her name was on his tongue. 

"That's not your planet." She whispered, sniffing the air. "I have never met an Earthling before, but I recognize your scent."

Keith frowned, that was the second time in the past day that something had told him that he was not what he seemed to be. "Then what is my scent?"

Lryda frowned again, shaking her head, her body shaking. "You have the scent of those who enslaved my people long ago. You smell like them, but you do not appear as one..." She paused, reading his expression and shrugging. "You do not know your own blood Keith, but it is not of this 'Earth' you speak of."

"I've been told similar things a lot in the past two days, Lryda. Is there anything that you  _can_ tell me about this blood in my veins?" Keith managed to keep the anger out of his voice, but he still could feel the cold rage that ran through him. He was done not knowing his own secrets.

“You and I are alike Keith, we’re both merely monsters wearing innocent skins.” Lryda murmured. "We both do not have anywhere to go, my people are gone, and yours are hunting you."

Keith only nodded slowly, looking up, at the sky. "Are you alone Lryda?"

She nodded. "I am the last. Now it is my turn for a question." She inched towards the Lion slowly, until she was in reach of it. "Why are you here? How did you find this place?"

"I was separated from my friends, and my ship took me here. Do you know how I can find them?" He doubted that Lryda had any kind of modern technology, but he never knew, perhaps if he were lucky she would have something hidden within those mountains that lined the edge of the valley.

"Do they have similar ships?"

"Yes."

Lryda smiled, gesturing for Keith to follow her. "Bring your monster ship, I can help you Keith."

~

"Lance?!" A voice rang through the helmet that Lance had set down on the desk next to him as Gundan had begun working on tracking down any unusual energies through as far as their satellites could reach. Lance jumped a bit, looking over at his helmet in shock.

"Pick up,  _goddammit!"_ Pidge yelled through the communicator. Lance snatched his helmet up and put it on quickly. 

"Pidge?" He asked incredulously. 

"And Hunk!" Another voice, Hunk, said in excitement. "Dude, are you okay? Cause, I mean, like Pidge found me right away so I didn't really have time to freak out, but you've had at  _least_ a few hours to freak out, so are you good?"

Lance laughed. "Yeah I'm fine, where are you guys?"

"We're entering into Earth's atmosphere right now, where are you? On Earth I mean?" Pidge asked, he could faintly hear her tapping on her laptop, and that sound alone was enough to make him sigh in relief. 

"I'm back at the Garrison... I don't know how happy they'll be with two more of their missing Cadets showing up again." Lance shot a look over at Gundan who had turned his attention to Lance with an angry frown. "Not after the information I had to give them about Voltron and space and all of the shit we've been putting up with lately."

"Um, and  _why_ exactly did you tell them?" Pidge asked, her voice annoyed and angry. "We don't want to drag anyone else into this mess, Lance."

"I didn't tell them  _everything_ Pidge, only enough for them to have an idea how to protect themselves if it comes down to it." Lance retorted, turning from Gundan to preserve any illusion of privacy that he could. "We have families here, and I want them to have some sort of protection if the Galra decide to target our planet. We won't be able to always be here right away, and if I can help it, I don't want our people to fall victim to the Galra's enslavement."

Pidge was silent for a moment but Lance knew that she agreed. She had already lost two family members to the Galra's enslavement, and even though she was still looking for them and for a way to save them, she would not wish that pain on anyone else. "Your right." She murmured. "Okay, well Hunk and I should be there within the next half an hour. Could you possibly tell the Garrison  _not_ to shoot at us?"

"I'll see what I can do," Lance responded, looking over his shoulder at Gundan, who had succeeded in finding the Green and Yellow Lion on his sensors. 

"Oh, could you also ask them if they have food?" Hunk chimed in. "Preferably a donut, or steak, I'm starving." 

Lance laughed. "See you guys soon, and you might be out of luck Hunk, Officer Gundan is already giving me a glare that even rivals Keith's death glare."

"Oh God, It's that bad then?" Hunk asked.

"Yeah, they kind of hate us, I think." Lance winked at Gundan, a cheeky smile spreading across his face as the other man raised his hands in frustration. 

"Really?" Hunk asked, he sounded kind of hurt, like papercut kind of hurt, but papercuts still stung like a bitch.

"Yeah, you should see how angry this guy is, can't wait til' you get here to meet him, I'm  _sure_ he'll be thrilled."

"Stop spewing lies you shit-eating bastard!" Gundan cursed angrily. Lance tried to hide his amusement, seeing how Gundan reacted reminded him again of Keith, it also reminded Lance that Gundan wasn't much older than them, he was still young, a year younger than Shiro still. Gundan had grown to be an extremely successful Officer in the Galaxy Garrison in an impressive amount of time.

"Lance, shut up before they  _actually_ start to hate you." Pidge reprimanded with boredom. "Do something useful, like, I don't know,  _making sure they don't shoot at us_ _!_ " 

"Right, right," Lance said quickly. "I'm on it." Lance tugged his helmet off and set it down again, looking over at the two little dots on the computer, progressively nearing the Galaxy Garrison as they spoke. 

"It seems that your fellow cadets found you before you could find them," Gundan said a bit heatedly. Man, he was so much like Keith it almost hurt. 

"Yep, they're better at that kind of thing than I am. Pidge is really smart, and Hunk definitely knows his way around technology, so with them, I should have no trouble." Lance said with a shrug, leaning back against the desk nonchalantly. "You'll let them approach peacefully I assume." Lance tried to sound like there wasn't another option, but Gundan nodded nonetheless, grabbing the communicator at his side and speaking into it quickly.

"Two more Lions approaching, let them approach, they come in peace." Gundan finished up and slid the communicator back onto his side. "You've fulfilled your side of the deal, and I didn't get the chance to uphold my end, so allowing you and your friends to go will be upholding my side."

Lance nodded, knowing that the Garrison would not offer a warm welcome, but they were honorable enough to keep their side of a bargain and let the Paladins leave again without much of a hassle. Sure, Lance had had to spill some information, but it would be for their own good to be able to prepare themselves against the Galra. "Thank you," Lance said simply, it was all he had to offer.

Gundan merely nodded, turning back to type something into the computer. "They'll be here in about ten minutes by the looks of it. Your Lion is still in the place you left it, and I assume that you'll want to go wait outside to greet them."

"Yeah, I'll be going then. Thank you again for your help,"

"Don't start thanking me yet, I doubt that your job as a Paladin will be any easier because of our kindness today," Gundan responded, a bit coldly to say the least. Lance didn't blame him for the coolness, instead, he took it as a queue to leave. 

The Paladin made his way outside of the Garrison easily, taking in the cool air and scenery as he looked around. He knew that it could be a very long time before he saw Earth again, so the best he could do was enjoy those few minutes of peace while he waited. It was all too soon that he saw their Lions speeding towards him, yet Lance sighed in relief at the sight. They had found one another again, and that alone meant that there was still hope. 

They were halfway there. Soon, the defenders would be reunited again, and then, they would be one step closer to ridding the Universe of the Galra and bringing lasting peace.

One step closer, and another after that.

Lance tried to smile, thoughts of his family flooding his mind. After the months he had been gone, he was finally back on Earth again and he wasn't even going to see them. He was doing this for their sakes, he was doing this to protect them and everyone else. 

And they were one step closer to doing just that. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings my earthlings, I'm sorry that this fic is so slow so far! Some good Klance is promised once I can finally get them into the same solar system... Yeahhh, so anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! One more step towards the entire gang being reunited ;)
> 
> Hit me up on my tumblr: uniwhaletrash.tumblr.com


	5. Lost and Found

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you wanna have some extra feelings while reading this listen to Get Home by Bastille.  
> Have a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6-s5RsEmOg  
> 

"Guys, are you seeing the same thing that I am?" Pidge asked as they flew through space at a rapid pace. Sadly, Hunk had never gotten his beef jerky or donuts, they had left Earth almost as soon as they had arrived. Lance had quickly explained that they were not as welcome as they would have hoped, and with that, they had gotten Lance back to his Lion and taken off, back into space.

They hadn't even thought about trying to get a message to their families, it would only cause more questions to arise. So they had left without thinking, leaving their loved ones behind, and ultimately it was to for their own good, but that didn't make it hurt any less.

Now as they flew, something had appeared before them, one of the portals that Allura had seldom created from the castleship.

"Pala-" A crackled voice cut in and out, one that obviously belonged to the Altean Princess. "Paladins! Can you hear me?"

"Allura?" Pidge asked, her voice filled with hope and excitement. "We can hear you!"

"Good!" The princess responded. "I can't hold the portal for very much longer, it leads back to the ship."

Pidge started flying towards it, followed closely by Hunk. Lance hesitated for a moment. "And you're _sure_ that this one won't fling us out all over space again?" He asked, tentatively flying behind Pidge and Hunk. 

"I am positive that this one will work just fine, Lance." Allura responded, her voice sharp. Lance decided to keep his mouth shut rather than retorting. Pidge and Hunk flew through it a bit ahead of Lance. He took a deep, steadying breath before steering his Lion straight through the portal. 

The familiar shaking and spinning feeling that accompanied going through the portal hit him head on, Lance winced, knowing that the last time he had felt that feeling he had been thrown into Earth alone. Lance closed his eyes, only hoping that when he opened them, the castleship would be in front of him and he would be back with his friends, saving the universe. He already felt a pulsing ache growing in his chest as he thought about the family he had been forced to leave behind a second time. He had missed Earth more than anything in the past few months, and when he had finally gotten see it again, he could not stay. It hurt so much to leave it behind again, part of him wondered if he'd ever be able to see it again, or if the Galra would win in this everlasting battle.  

Lance swallowed back his fears and opened his eyes as the shift between space stopped. Ahead of him, lay the castleship, undamaged and shining like a beacon of hope against the darkness of the Universe around him.  

He managed to smile as he drove his Lion to the ship, ready to eat, sleep, and catch up with his companions. 

Lance knew that their fight was not yet at an end, but somewhere deep within, he found the resolve he needed to push forward.

He was ready to face the entire Universe if the need be. He would let himself fall apart if it meant protecting everyone else.

Even if it meant never seeing his home again

~

When they were back on the castleship, and comfortably stripped out of their armor, the group gathered in the control room of the ship. Allura was still at the control panel, searching for something. Coran was darting around, checking functions, and looking absolutely exhausted, even if he were still in his usual good mood. Shiro was looking a bit worse for wear, but otherwise okay, for the most part, they all just looked tired. Lance walked into the control room, looking around, and pausing. No one was speaking. 

"Where's Keith?" Lance asked, hoping that the fucking-mullet-mess would appear through the door or behind him, but there was no such luck.

"We haven't been able to track him down yet," Shiro responded.

Lance's mouth went dry. "You mean he's out there all alone? You found  _us,_ didn't you? So  _where the hell is he?_ "

"Lance!" Pidge growled. "Calm yourself, we're all worried about him, but they're trying their best to find him, okay? You survived for a day just fine on your own, have a bit of faith in him, he spent _a year_ in that desert alone."

Lance shook his head. He trusted that Keith could take care of himself, he didn't doubt it for one second, but Lance had ended up alone on Earth and had been terrified out of his mind, he couldn't imagine how being all alone in space, or on some alien planet would be. Keith was all alone out there while the rest of them just stood there discussing how he could take care of himself without them. 

Lance clenched his hands into fists, biting back every word he could have spat in that moment. They were supposed to always be there for each other, and now, while most of them had made it back together they were still missing one of the Paladins, one of  _their friends_.

"Is there anything else we can do to find him?" Lance asked tightly.

"Allura is doing everything possible to try and locate him," Shiro interjected, leaning back into his chair, closing his eyes. His face was pale, and he still was not looking good. He likely needed to rest. "He must have ended up a lot farther from us than the rest of you did."

Lance let loose a breath, his chest was tight and it felt like there was glass in his lungs with every breath he took. Keith didn't have another home to go to besides his Lion and the castleship, if anyone was a priority, it had to be Keith. They were the only family he had, and Lance wouldn't turn his back on his friend, no matter what. They were rivals, teammates, and most of all, they were friends. He hated to even think about it, or admit it, but Lance had no idea what he would do without Keith anymore. Without him, there would be no one challenging Lance, no one to bash heads with, and no one to keep him going off of anger and sarcastic comments alone. He needed that mullet-mess in his world. Especially in a world where they had to bear the weight of the Universe on their shoulders.

"We don't rest until we find him." Lance breathed, turning to stalk out of the room. 

No one tried to follow or call out to him.

~

Lryda led Keith and his Lion towards the mountain range that carved its way across the valley. Keith followed her small form from inside his lion, watching for any signs of threat while they walked. He wasn't about to let his guard down around the small Jalda or around the rest of the planet. He had no idea if Lryda was the only inhabitant of the entire planet, or if she had merely meant that she was the last living Jalda that was not enslaved or dead. He felt pity looking down at her, she was so obviously alone, her family was gone.

In that way, Keith could relate to the Jalda, but he still was uncertain that her words about him being different had meant anything. He had encountered both her and the Prophetess within two days, and they had both said oddly vague and annoying things along the lines of his blood being different, and him not being who he thought he was. Keith found the best thing to do was to simply ignore those ambiguous messages until they truly became relevant. He hadn't felt different from the others, not in ways that would make him inhuman. Sure, he was cast out, he had been able to live alone in a desert for a year without even considering reaching out to humanity simply because humanity had never done him any favors before, but he had the same emotions as them, he was still part of humanity. So whatever warnings those two aliens were giving him had to be inaccurate. He did not know who his parents had been, but if they had been of another world then how had he ended up on Earth of all places? It didn't make sense, not yet. He would look into whatever he could about himself when he was back on the castleship with the others and had the resources he needed. Perhaps they could perform a blood test, just to see if there were any irregularities within his blood. Or he could ignore it, and find a way to deal with whatever was wrong with him, by himself. 

Lryda had stopped as she reached a plateau about halfway up the mountain. She pointed to a spot for Keith to set his Lion down and gestured for him to follow her into the cave once he had made his way out of the ship. Her gray skin looked almost transparent in the fading light. Keith followed Lryda into the cave, suppressing his shock as he beheld a small spacecraft, made of Galra technology. 

"Where did you get this?" Keith asked, stepping up to the ship.  

"I told you. My people were enslaved, I am the last, I escaped." She said, fumbling to open the ship. "This is how I knew you had arrived."

Keith followed her into the ship, looking around at the familiar dark interior. "How did you pilot it, I thought only authorized personnel could pilot their ships..."

Lryda shrugged. "I am here, aren't I?"

"I suppose you're right..." Keith said, walking to the control panel, it looked as if she had rewired the ship to serve her own purposes. So she was used to advanced technology, perhaps it had been fortunate to land on that planet and find Lryda there. She walked over to the control panel, practically moving Keith out of her way before tapping feverishly, images flashed by as she began her search.  

"What are you doing?" Keith asked, feeling a bit useless as she continued to work. "What should  _I_ be doing?"

"You should watch the sky." She whispered. "It is very beautiful at this time." Lryda turned, looking Keith up and down for a moment before stepping towards him. She was within reach of him now, and because of it, Keith had to resist the urge to step away.

Before he saw it coming, Lryda set a small, frail hand on his chest, feeling the beat of his heart beneath her small hand. The touch made Keith stiffen considerably, she had made it look so easy, and now she was close enough to strike him a wound so deep it would never recover. He never let people this close to him, it was too risky, yet this small alien girl had managed to get close without a problem.

"Don't forget," She murmured. "If you are lost, do not forget who this heart belongs to, even when you are unsure, this is who you are."

Keith swallowed, his throat dry.

"Full of life, do not lose it Keith, do not give into who  _they_ want you to be." Her red eyes flashed with a calming certainty as she stepped away and continued to work on her control panel, programming it to look for the Voltron Lions energy.

Keith couldn't get out of that cave fast enough, his heart thundering in his chest as he repressed a shudder. He needed to get away from all of these aliens that brought his entire identity into question. He had enough of being told that he was different.

Keith clutched his chest as he made his way to the edge of the plateau to sit and wait. He took Lryda's suggestion and looked out at the sky. The star that lit this world had almost completely faded behind the horizon, casting a purple-pink light across the sky that reminded him so much of the sunsets he had enjoyed while on Earth. The sky was beautiful, and if he looked up, he could see millions of stars, stark against the darkness of the night. Something stirred within him as he sat on that foreign soil, something deep, and something intensely different,  _wrong_ even.

He winced, still gripping his chest. What was going on? Why couldn't he  _control_ this? There was something deep within him that was clawing to get out, something that had been contained until now, and all it wanted was to  _get out_.

"Would you like to eat?" He heard Lryda ask from behind him. She had brought a bowl of purple berries and something that resembled water out with her. She sat a good distance from the Paladin, setting the bowls in-between them as she snatched a few of the plump looking berries for herself.

"I don't know if I can eat them, they may not be safe for my body." He explained lowly, looking back out, over the horizon, only praying that he could track the others down soon, or that  _they_ would find him.

"They are safe!" Lryda insisted, pushing the bowl of berries towards him again. "They don't hurt."

Keith cringed as he picked one up, examining it closely, as if he could tell whether or not it was edible. He supposed that he had already deemed the the air of that planet was breathable enough, not as rich as the oxygen his helmet gave him, but it had an atmosphere of some sort that supported life. Lryda was watching him intently as he examined the berry with a frown. He shrugged, popping it into his mouth. It was sour, but still sweet. He chewed it for a moment before swallowing, only hoping that it wouldn't end up killing him. Lryda nodded in approval as she gradually shoveled a handful of the berries into her mouth.

"Did you find anything?" Keith asked, looking over his shoulder towards the cave where her Galra ship was.

Lryda paused for a moment before nodding slowly. "There is a large ship, it has the same energy."

"Is it close to here?"

Another nod. "They are your friends, Keith?" She asked, staring at her hands that now had traces of the berry juice streaked across them. He couldn't stop hearing the way she pronounced his name, prolonging the ' _e'_ sound a bit longer than necessary.

"Yes," He responded easily. "They're like family to me."

Lryda fell silent, rubbing her hands in the grass. Keith watched as pain flickered across her features, her lips pursed tight, and her voice strained. "They are your family?"

"Not technically," He tried to explain slowly. "But they are very, very close to me, and they're the only ones I have left. So sometimes, they  _feel_ like they are my family."

"I see." She said shortly, poking a clump of grass with her toe. 

Keith watched her sadly, she was right about them being alike in some sense, both of them no longer had families, not biological ones anyway. Keith had been lucky enough to be accepted by the other Paladins, he had been lucky enough to meet all of them and get to know them even when he had already accepted that he might be alone for the rest of his life. But Lryda... she had not been so lucky. Her entire people had been enslaved, and she could not possibly know who continued to live in slavery and who had died by now. The young Jalda woman had no one to turn to, and he had no idea how long she had been living alone on this planet in the mountains.

"You know, as a Paladin of Voltron, my job is to defend the entire Universe, and my friends and I are working to free everyone who has been enslaved by the Galra, and bring peace. There is a chance that your people are still alive." Keith said, looking back out at the sky. A large dark shape had begun to block out the stars above him, and he could see two smaller shapes flying towards him.

" _My people are gone!"_ Lryda hissed angrily. Keith turned back to look at her quickly, not bothering to warn her about the Paladins that now approached in their Lions, there was a chance she had already seen them. "You are too late  _defender!_ Where were you five years ago when we needed you?" Her voice had risen, strained with pain. "You will not make a difference to my people, you were not there when we needed a savior."

The others were approaching too quickly, Keith just needed a few more moments with the Jalda to try and talk some sense into her. If her people had been enslaved there was likely more of them out there. She had already gotten to her feet and was backing away from him, her eyes on the yellow and blue Lions that had come down to find him.

"You could come with us, Lryda," Keith said, it was his turn to stand, moving from the ledge. "You don't have to be alone!"

The Jalda was hugging herself tightly, shaking her head, long black hair shifting in the wind as the Lions found a place to land. "Yes I do, I can never find my way back home. Farewell Keith." With that, the Jalda simply dissipated into thin air, no trace of her was left behind. Keith blinked a few times, he couldn't have seen that right. She was gone. The only trace that she had ever been there was the bowl of berries that still sat in the grass, and the faint glow of her ship in the cave.

" _Keith!"_ Lance's voice called out, across the large span of rock. Keith paused a moment, and then looked over his shoulder, only to find Lance and Hunk running in his direction, and slowing to a walk as they approached. "Dude!" Lance cried. "We finally found you!"

Hunk was breathing heavily, and Lance looked like he hadn't slept in the past two days, but they both looked fine past that. Something within Keith sagged in relief. They were okay, no one had been hurt. 

"About damn time." Keith said, a bit haughtily. Lance grinned dorkishly and Hunk had a great big smile, grabbing both he and Lance, and pulling them into a hug. 

"We should get back to the ship," Hunk started. "This guy is going to cook everyone a great big, special feast to celebrate!"

Keith managed a weak smile as Lance raised his hands in celebration. "That would be great Hunk, I'm famished."

Hunk patted Keith on the shoulder before heading back towards his Lion, Lance lingering for a moment, looking over Keith's shoulder. 

"Who was that alien that you were talking to?" Lance asked, Keith only noticed then that he was staring at the place where Lryda had disappeared. Instead of answering his question, Keith merely shrugged.

"I don't really know," He lied, his chest tight. Lance looked at him for a long moment, the look in his eyes telling Keith that the other Paladin knew he was keeping information from him, but instead of pressing him, Lance merely nodded and headed back to his Lion.

Keith looked over at the bowl of purple berries one last time before heading to his Lion.

Lryda was the ghost of a people that they could not save, she was a reminder of what the Galra had done, and what the Paladins needed to stop no matter what.

The Red Paladin placed a hand on his chest, over his beating heart. 

As he flew up, back into the castleship, he made a silent vow, to himself, and to the entire Universe around him.

A vow that he would rid them of the Galra, and a vow that he would never stand to see another species enslaved or destroyed. He would do everything in his power to keep others from feeling the same crushing pain of losing their families and being alone. 

He never wanted to see another living being crushed by that same, harrowing loneliness.

Never again.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yaayyyyy reunited at last!!! Also any speculation on how/why Lryda disappeared? Any thoughts on the role that she could possibly play in the future? *cough* *cough*  
> I'd love to hear your theories ;)  
> Also also, Lryda's name is pronounced: L-hr-eye-da, roll the h and the r together for a sort of purring sound (at least this is how I've been saying it, so join me in my weird alien pronunciation of things)
> 
> Also, also, also (I have a lot to share about this chapter apparently), The title of the chapter is referring to the fact that they find Keith (obviously) but Lryda still ends up being lost and wandering somewhere by herself... T^T (I'm trying to force you to care about her as much as I do. Plz love this smol alien) 
> 
> I'm on tumblr! Hit me up at: uniwhaletrash.tumblr.com


	6. Moments Like These

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've started finding songs that go with my chapters cuz it makes me happy, just an fyi  
> SO, the song for this chapter is: [Is There Somewhere by Halsey](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=686SmDtBOu8)

The next few days for the Paladins included sleeping, eating, and spending their down time in whatever way they wished after sharing quick stories about what had gone on while they were separated, it didn't seem like much had happened for the most part. For Lance, he liked to sprawl out across his bed and read or simply think, and at other times when he was not doing that, he would go down to the training deck and train with Keith, or merely watch how Keith fought the newly replaced drone. Watching Keith fight with his Bayard was an experience that anyone could appreciate.

The way the other boy moved with such fluid ease and grace when it came to wielding a sword. Lance had no reason to train like that, apart from occasional target practice, but Keith, on the other hand, had every reason to keep improving every day. He was already skilled, but every time he fought he became stronger and far more accustomed to the flexibility of wielding his double-edged blade.

Lance watched Keith in admiration sometimes, but when Keith asked him what he was doing there, he usually had to come up with some snarky retort like "I was just making sure that you actually knew what you're doing." or "I bet I could do that." Mostly because the look of utter disbelief and annoyance on Keith's face gave him life. Lance knew that Keith knew that he was mostly just razzing him out of good fun, but sometimes it got out of hand between them, especially when they were stressed, then it became an occupational hazard to have to deal with the other boy's remarks.

Coincidentally, it was almost all of the time that they were stressed out. 

The thought didn't sit well.

Lance frowned as Keith finished his sequence and ordered the drone off. He walked over to where Lance was sitting to grab a towel so he could wipe the sweat off of his face and ridiculously well-toned arms. Lance tried not to stare at him, especially not now when Keith's shirt was sticking to his body from the sweat. 

Lance looked down at the comic book he had brought to read.

"What are you doing here?" Keith asked, annoyance hinting in his tone. They had had this conversation so many times and Lance knew that it was his queue to snark at the other Paladin.  

Instead, he merely shrugged. "I wanted to see how you were after how crazy the past few days have been,"

Keith blinked, taken aback. "I'm fine, it's not like it was anything I couldn't handle." He strung the towel around his neck and Lance couldn't help to notice the strain in Keith's face and the guardedness in his tone.

"Is there something that you're not telling us?" Lance couldn't help but ask as he watched Keith move away. The Red Paladin stopped, turning to give Lance a long look. "C'mon Keith, did something happen while you were out there? We're not supposed to keep secrets." A stupid and hypocritical thing for Lance to say, but he didn't yield as Keith merely met his eyes with that cold, annoyed look,

"Recently I've been told that I don't even know my own secrets, Lance." Keith said dismissively.

"What is that supposed to mean?" 

"Who knows." With that, Keith continued walking. Lance watched him leave, debating whether or not to go after him.

Later, he would ask again later. For now, Keith seemed unsteady, and it seemed like the smartest thing to do would be to give him his space.

Keith could take care of himself just fine, Lance was constantly being reminded of that with every snide remark and genius, impulsive decision that Keith made. 

So Lance turned back to his comic, shrugging away any doubt that he felt.

~

Keith slipped back into his room with the concern in Lance's voice still ringing through his mind. He hadn't been expecting it at all. Lance was seldom one to compliment Keith, not unless he was on the verge of death, even then it would be a shock. He wondered if Lance had actually been concerned or if he had been put up to being the one to approach him today. 

He had been increasingly irritable since making it back to the castleship, and the others had noticed his slowly decreasing patience and had mostly opted to give him room to figure himself out. For the most part, he appreciated that they respected him enough to give him the space he needed, but another part of him couldn't help but wish that they would actually try to help him out. He had mostly accepted that he was alone by now, but the Paladins were his family, something that he had never had before them, so he had no right to assume what family was supposed to be, but he assumed that it was supposed to be more than this.

He could figure anything out on his own, but that didn't mean that he always wanted to.

Yet when Lance had offered him help, he had been quick to shut him down.

Keith groaned, falling back onto his bed, rubbing his face in frustration. He could hardly blame himself, Lance wasn't exactly the first person he would expect concern from! They were rivals, neck and neck, or at least that was how Lance viewed them. 

Keith didn't know how he viewed Lance, but it sure as hell wasn't in a bad way, no he maybe even  _respected_ Lance, amongst other things that he was not ready to think about. He sighed, turning onto his side and flipping over the book he had left there. Hopefully, reading could take the edge off for awhile. 

~

Keith woke up to someone knocking on the door. He must have dozed off while reading. He sat up groggily and rubbed his eyes before standing and moving to open the door. It was a nasty shock to wake up to, Lance standing there, fidgeting and looking bored. 

"What do you want?" Keith asked flatly.

Lance shrugged. "You weren't at dinner."

"Are you saying you were  _worried?_ "Keith mocked. Lance frowned, crossing his arms angrily.

"In that case, forget it." Lance snapped, turning to leave. Panic suddenly coiled within Keith's stomach, he was messing up, Lance was reaching out to him, the last thing he should be doing was pushing him away.

"Wait," Keith managed. Lance turned. "Thanks for worrying,"

That bastard smiled in his cocky-shit eating way. "Let's go get some space-goo, you jerk."

"Fine, idiot," Keith responded heatedly, following Lance anyway.

He was in such never-ending shit, that smile, that smile that was just so horribly  _Lance._

Keith found himself looking at the ground so Lance wouldn't see the heat that rose in his face.

_Shit_ , that smile had gotten him, he had missed that smile, hell, he had missed  _Lance_. 

_Fuck._

"So," Lance started as they reached the kitchen and he grabbed two bowls for space-goo. "Seriously, what's going on with you?"

"Who says that anything is going on with me?" Keith responded easily, leaning against the counter.

"You've been distant, and frankly the mullet-mess that I always claim you are, it's kind of unsettling." Lance pointed his spoon in Keith's direction and frowning as if that was supposed to be threatening. It was so ridiculous that Keith snorted.

"Really, I'm fine, there has just been a lot to think about since we all got separated." Keith grabbed the bowl that Lance slid him and dug in. "And I've just been tired."

"Dude, we've all been tired..." 

"It's a different kind of tired," Keith responded.

Lance rolled his eyes. "Would you stop it with the vague excuses? Just tell me what's up you know, I mean, we are friends."

"I thought we were rivals."

"We're a team! Remember? We had that bonding moment that you tell everyone about!" That stupid-ass smile had found its way onto Lance's face again, Keith had to look away.

"Shut up, it didn't happen, _remember?"_ Keith let himself smirk. "You're a real pain in the ass."

"That's what I'm here for!" 

Keith's small smile faded. He finished his goo in silence, waiting for Lance to start another conversation. 

"You know..." Lance started. "When I was out there alone, I landed on earth, and while I was there, it was all I could do not to go flying back home. I was so close to my family, after all of the months we've been gone the chance to see them again was right there in front of me... They contacted the Garrison, they don't even know that I'm alive, I just  _disappeared_ and that's all they know." Keith was looking at Lance again now. Lance stared at the wall ahead of him, sorrow flickering through his soft eyes and his arms crossed. "I just kept thinking that if I wrapped them up in this mess I would never be able to forgive myself. I kept asking myself what you guys would do, and so I left without leaving them a message or anything, and now, I'm not sure it was the right choice..."

"I'm sorry," Was all that Keith could think to say. He had never been very good at dealing with emotional situations, but for Lance, he would support him no matter what.

"I'm telling you this because I need you to know that you can trust me, Keith." Lance said, a sadder version of his usual smile growing on his face. "I know that something is bothering you, and I'm here for you if you need to get it off your chest. We all need moments like these, when it's dark and we can say anything without the fear of being judged. Plus, we're in this together buddy, no matter what." Lance stood, stretching and looking over his shoulder, towards his room longingly. "I need sleep, see you tomorrow." And with that he left, leaving Keith staring after him, unsure what it all meant.

Keith was in such deep and unending shit, he was falling in love with that idiot.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyoooo so I promised some Klance once I got them into the same solar-system, so I mean, I guess this will have to count for now ;) Sorry it's kind of short, but I hope you enjoyed anyway!!


	7. Hidden Truths and Pretty Lies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALRIGHT MY DUDES, IT IS THE WEEKEND, AND I AM READY TO FUCKING WRITE ALL OF THIS. 
> 
> OR MORE OF IT, WRITING THE REST WOULD BE A LOT
> 
> Hope you enjoy :)

After their few days of peace, it was time to get back to work for the Paladins, and though they were all grateful for the distraction, none of them were quite as recovered as they would have liked to be. Shiro and Allura had been spending a lot of time together the past few days, and the others had begun to notice their closeness, yet deigned to comment. It was good for them to be close, they could both use the moral support of the other. 

What they  _hadn't_ noticed was how Lance had not been able to keep his eyes off of Keith since they had pulled him off of that planet. Lance liked to believe that he was stealthy with all of his furtive glances and casual approaches, and he knew that the others believed he would flirt with anything that breathed. 

That wasn't true, it hadn't been for awhile. 

When they had been pulled from Earth and forced onto the castleship with a whole group of stubborn assholes who were all used to getting their own way, Lance didn't know how to deal with the things he began to feel. On Earth, he usually hadn't questioned his identity, but in space, everything was different. He only flirted with everything that breathed because he was unsure of his feelings, he only did that to distract himself. 

Sure, he knew back on Earth that he was not straight, but space had set this whole bisexual awakening into order, and now he couldn't stop staring at that fucking mullet mess. 

Sometimes Lance wondered if he flirted to get under Keith's skin, so Keith would just  _notice_ him for once, even if it was in an annoyed way. Plus, the other boy was cute when he was annoyed, he was sarcastic, but it was so intelligent, and that made him even more attractive to Lance. At first, Lance had written off these feelings as respect for the other boy, but the longer he thought about it, the further he found himself lost in the vast ocean of Keith's eyes.

Ugh, he wondered if he could possibly ever admit that to the other Paladin without being completely written off as idiotic and desperate for love. 

He was not desperate for love, and he knew this because he would wait for Keith, he would wait a lifetime if he had to. Keith made him stronger, he was strong and entirely someone that Lance could only aspire to be. He would wait for Keith, he would always go back to the other boy, no matter the vastness of whatever galaxies could separate them.

The longer he thought about it, the greater the feeling grew. He found it harder and harder to insult Keith, or to not check in on him. 

Lance shook his head, he was fretting over someone who he could not even call his. He didn't know if he'd ever be able to.

"Lance?" Pidge asked. He snapped violently out of his thoughts, focusing on the plans that his companions were discussing around him.

"Sorry, lost in my thoughts." Lance replied with a sheepish smile.

Keith snorted. "You've been  _uncharacteristically_ unopinionated this afternoon,"

Lance crossed his arms. "I've just been thinking."

"That's dangerous."

Lance bit back his response, staring Keith down for a moment, trying not to let warmth in his chest spread to his face. Ever since he and Keith had talked in the kitchen that night, Keith had been more-or-less back to himself, and Lance couldn't tell if that was a relief or not. He was back to shooting Lance down and pointing out anything that he felt that he had the right to point out. Lance was relieved that Keith no longer seemed bothered by whatever happened to him, but he still hadn't told Lance about what had happened, and that bothered him immensely. Instead of dealing with whatever he was feeling, he had likely merely suppressed it. Lance didn't like the thought of that.

"Your face is dangerous." Lance sputtered back after a moment, unable to come up with anything witty. Keith rolled his eyes, turning back to what Shiro had begun to lay out.

"The information we've gained on this substance could be very important for the future, we need to go about this in the right way..." Lance tuned out their voices again, staring blankly at the table.

It took another painfully long hour for them to end their discussion with no real plan. Lance had mostly daydreamed about various things the entire time and was relieved to get away when they finally began to stand.

"I don't know about you guys," Lance started, stretching. "But I'm going to get a glass of space juice and read a good book."

"Nope." Keith interjected almost immediately. "You're coming with me, we're going to go look into that thing that we talked about last night." The eye contact he was making with Lance was enough to let him know that Keith needed to talk, alone. Lance groaned for show.

"Do we have to  _right_ now?" He whined.

" _Yes!_ _"_ Keith growled back. Lance had to admit, the two of them certainly knew how to put on a good show together, Hunk had already muttered something about food, yet Shiro and Pidge were still frowning at Keith and Lance suspiciously. 

"Is it anything I can help with?" Pidge asked cheerfully, looking between them, daring them to tell her no. Shiro smiled a bit at the Green Paladin. "Or is there something that you're not telling us?"

Lance completely broke out in a cold sweat right then, glancing at Keith. So far, the Red Paladin had been keeping secrets from all of them, not just Lance. But he was finally going to tell Lance something, and he couldn't just let the other boy down, not if he was choosing to trust Lance first. 

"What?--"  

"It's fine, Lance." Keith rolled his eyes. "I was going to discuss it with you alone, but I already confided in Shiro, and I could use Pidge's help for this."

Lance frowned, Keith had already talked to Shiro, even after what he had said to him last night, Keith hadn't wanted to talk to him first. "Oh," Lance said sharply. "I see, well get it out then."

Keith shrugged. "Lryda, the Jalda I met, told me some things, so did this witch I met, and I needed to get them out, it's nothing important. What I really wanted to look up was if there was any recent trace of the Jalda race."

Allura frowned. "Why? Do you want to know if this woman's people are still alive?"

"That's part of it," Keith said. "Have you heard of anything?"

Something that crossed over Allura's face told them that what she knew was not pleasant. "The last I heard of the Jalda was over 10,000 years ago Keith, their people were one of the first enslaved by the Galra. There is no way that Lryda is who she said she is, the Jalda were exterminated far too long ago."

Keith looked a bit pale when Lance glanced over at him. "What reason did she have to lie then? She sounded so genuine..."

"She had Galra tech on her hands, it's likely that she knew that you would not know the difference between what she was and the extinct Jalda people," Allura said, she walked over to the control panel and searched for a moment before flicking up a hologram of an alien with light blue skin and green eyes. "This is what the Jalda used to look like. Did this Lryda look anything like this?"

Keith shook his head. "She looked like an attempt at that, but her skin was gray, and her eyes were glowing red."

"I have no idea who she could have been then," Allura frowned. "I'm sorry Keith."

Lance watched the other Paladin closely, he showed no signs of disappointment, instead, he shrugged. "It's fine, she wasn't that important anyway."

_Liar!_ Lance thought. That alien had affected Keith in some way, she had said something to him, and those words haunted him. Whatever that  _thing_ had told him was still affecting him. Like hell, she wasn't that important.

"What else did she tell you?" Lance asked, his eyes finding Keith's. He looked at Lance for a moment before looking back to Allura,  _dismissing_ him. Lance was about ready to punch something.

"She tried to help me, she said that we were alike. She really seemed to loathe the Galra for some reason, and I thought it was because her people were dead." Keith said with a contemplative frown. 

"She could have been lying to gain your trust," Pidge suggested. "That's what I would have done."

"She was a convincing liar then," Keith said back.

"I have the feeling," Shiro started, looking at Keith "That this is not the last we've seen of her, and the messages they gave you must mean something."

"What messages?" Lance asked. Pidge looked just as curious.

Keith raised his eyebrows in annoyance. "They're none of your concern."

"We're supposed to be a team," Lance growled. "That means no secrets."

Pidge nodded in agreement. "Lance is right." 

"What I was told doesn't even make sense to me, so it sure as hell wouldn't mean anything to you." Keith shook his head, he had crossed his arms defensively. Lance rolled his eyes. 

"Fine." He snapped. "You'll know where to find me when you finally get your head out of your ass."

With that, Lance turned and left the control room, heading back to his room.

He was so sick of this ship.

~

Keith watched Lance leave, regret brewing within him. The other boy had opened up to him the night before without him asking and hadn't even worried about being judged. Now, Keith couldn't even return that favor. Pidge was frowning at him, and Shiro looked unsure what to do. It was thankful that Hunk had left for lunch before all of this went down. He hated feeling like he was in the wrong, but it made no sense to tell the others about what the Prophetess had said, or what Lryda had followed up with.

He had told Shiro only because they had been friends before all of this, and because of that, Keith felt totally comfortable with seeking council from him. The others would only make it more difficult with speculation, and Keith was beginning to feel that the messages had meant nothing.

Except for the feeling that grew within him every day, that part of him that had not been there before. It was him, but it felt so  _wrong_ and out of control. The beast that was growing inside him was more and more difficult to control with every day. He had not told Shiro about that part, because if he could not trust himself, then how could he expect others to put their lives in his hands as much as he put his life in their own?

Watching Lance storm away made the thing inside him twist and thrash with anger, it was an effort not to brace himself against the wall and cringe. Instead, he merely had crossed his arms across his chest and dug his fingernails into his arms until it hurt. So far it had worked when it came to controlling that thing. Every time he experienced intense emotions he could feel whatever was in his veins stirring again. 

He wondered if it had something to do with the strange energy he had felt from both the prophetess and that had come from Lryda when she laid her hand over his heart. Something had changed him over the course of those two days, and he needed to find a way to reverse whatever they had done to him. He didn't confide in the other Paladins because it felt insane, and Keith couldn't help but think that if he told them, they would stop viewing him as the same person.  

The feeling sucked, but he managed to keep himself cool as Pidge turned back to him.  

"You know, we all have secrets, Keith," Pidge started coolly. "But we would never keep anything from each other that might affect the entire team. Just think about the effects of _whatever_ your hiding could have, okay?" With that, Pidge turned, following Lance's example and walking away from the situation. 

It took all of Keith's effort to stay grounded as a wave of shame and pain washed through him. He glanced at Shiro and Allura before shaking his head and beginning to walk. He needed to work off some of this stress. He could train, he could fight this feeling, but he knew that eventually, it would turn on him.

He only prayed that he could be far away from his friends when that day came and that he would have enough strength to finally face whatever was locked within him.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you're ready for shit to start hitting the fan soon~ >:) 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! Honestly, for everyone who has read, subscribed, or commented on this, thank you all so much, it seriously means a lot to me. (*^^*)
> 
> I'm on [tumblr](http://uniwhaletrash.tumblr.com/) if you want to chat ;)


	8. Sacrifice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, I just wanted to start out by saying thank you so much for all of the positivity I've received on this, it has really kept me going :)

Keith knocked on Lance's door, having just finished his spar he was still sweating, but he had blown off enough steam to find it within himself to apologize.

"Done being an asshole?" Lance called from inside the room, he must have guessed that Keith was the only one who had come to find him.

"Sure," Keith called back. "Until you say something stupid."

The door opened, Lance was scowling. "First off, admit that you had your head in your ass." The Blue Paladin started.

"What? No."

"I'm not going to listen to anything you have to say until you admit it."

Keith rolled his eyes. "You're being the asshole now."

Lance stuck out his bottom lip in a pout. It was ridiculous but equally cute. "You're so annoying."

"I know," Keith said, crossing his arms. "But bear with me for now."

"How do you expect me to trust you when I know that you're keeping things from everyone?" Lance blurted. The hurt in his eyes was so raw that Keith flinched. 

"Trust that I'm dealing with it, and that I'll tell you when I'm ready to." Keith shot back. "None of this is meant to be against you, I just have to figure it out first. On my own. I'm sorry if you can't understand that."

"That's the whole goddamn point Keith,  _you do not have to do_ anything _alone."_ Lance practically shouted the last few words. "I keep trying to tell you that, but you don't listen!"

"It's not that--" 

" _Paladins, get to your Lions, we've been spotted by a Galra patrol, and by the looks of it, they have an entire fleet nearby."_ Allura's voice called over the intercom in panic.  _"We don't have long until they arrive."_

Lance groaned, yet he and Keith both broke into a dead sprint towards their various Lions. 

"We're not done with this conversation!" Lance yelled over his shoulder.  

"To be continued," Keith called back. 

Another few minutes and Keith had his armor on and was riding quickly towards Red. He boarded the Lion as quickly as he could, sliding his helmet over his head. He could hear the other Paladins voices in his helmet as he flew out of the hanger to join them. 

"Let's  _not_ repeat what happened last time." Pidge drawled over their communication. "That was not the best usage of my time."

"We'll try to find a better way to occupy your time then," Keith shot back quickly. "What's our plan for this."

"Take out as many ships as possible, if we're overwhelmed we'll jump to another location," Shiro said. 

"We need information," Pidge started lightly. "Perhaps we should let the castleship distract them while a few of us slip in and try to find answers."

"Isn't that what we do almost every time we encounter a Galra ship?" Lance asked. "I'm kind of sick of being one of the distractions."

"We only do it so often because we could always use more information."

"Fine," Lance said. "But Keith gets to be a distraction, this time, I'm going with Pidge."

Keith frowned. "Red isn't as sturdy as Blue, it makes more sense for me to go with Pidge."

"Um, I've  _never_ gotten to go with Pidge, my turn." Hunk said quickly. "Lance and Keith will distract them alongside the castle."

Shiro sighed. "Sounds good Hunk, make it quick Pidge, we need to make sure we can get in and out of here with ease, if it comes to that."

Lance and Keith groaned in unison but wisely did not object. A moment later, they were all setting out to go about their separate jobs. If things got bad, they would form Voltron, or they could warp through a portal. Either way would work. 

"Hey Keith," Lance said, Keith could almost hear that shit-eating smile on his face. "I bet I can take out more ships than you can."

"You're on," 

"Loser has to do dishes for the next month," Lance added on.

"Then get ready to be stuck at the sink for a month," Keith replied. They could see the approaching Galra fleet now, and the Red and Blue Paladin faced it dead on. Shiro was at their back as well, trusting Hunk and Pidge to get in and out on their own. 

"Ha, as if! There's no way I'm going to lose to you." Lance flew towards one of their ships, bashing straight into it and sending it out of orbit. Keith rolled his eyes and got to work, counting out loud how many he took out, Lance did the same. 

Fights always felt like they lasted for hours, and in reality, they likely only lasted for minutes. Everything felt so awfully slow, and every decision on the battlefield held weight, every decision that was made during the battle would ultimately affect what it would take to win the war.

It took about five minutes for Pidge and Hunk to notify them that they were halfway done with downloading the mainframe onto Pidge's laptop. Keith could only wonder how their human technology withstood the Galra files. It would always be a mystery to Keith how Pidge had managed to modify her technology to be so compatible with alien technology. The simple answer was that the Green Paladin was a verified genius. He couldn't help but smile at the thought of the entire Galra Empire's mainframe being hacked into by a fourteen-year-old, human girl.

 

It felt like another eternity of shouting out how many ships he had taken out before Keith felt it and froze. 

Something within him was being called to, pulled even by the enemy in front of him. 

Keith reared away, panting as he couldn't contain the monster within him from ripping through his every defense. Keith didn't know if he was screaming or stuck in silence by the pain of whatever was in his blood. He was trembling, desperately trying to pull back, a gasping sob rising in his throat. He had been doing so well, and he was not far enough away for it to come loose yet.

"Keith!  _Watch out!"_

Something large crashed into him and Red, jostling him back into action, thrashing against the ship until he had taken it out. 

"Keith, are you okay?" Shiro asked with worry. 

"Yeah," Keith responded, his voice strangled as he tried to get a grip on himself. What the hell was happening to him? He had to get away. 

"They're surrounding us!" Lance cried out. "Pidge, Hunk, we need Voltron,  _now!"_

"Give me another second!" Pidge yelled back. 

Keith stared around at the ships that had managed to surround them, they didn't have enough time to wait for Pidge or Hunk, by the time they got there it would be too late, there would be no time to form Voltron. "I'll buy you time," Keith said through a labored breath. "But get ready to  _fly like hell_. Got it?"

"What are you planning?" Lance asked, a hint of worry in his voice.

"Something impulsive," Keith replied, trying to make his voice light and unworried. Then he flew straight into the heart of the battle, right towards the command ship until he was close enough to begin tearing it to shreds. He distantly heard Pidge and Hunk call out that they had made it out after he had just about wrecked half of the ship. 

"LEt's go, Keith!" Lance was shouting. Keith turned Red and began to fly away as quickly as he could. The others were already a safe distance away from the largest ship and it they kept flying he knew that they could make it back before the Galra troops completely cut them off. Keith but Red into full throttle, barreling after the other Paladins.

For a moment, he thought he would make it. 

But he wasn't quick enough. The ships closed the gap right before he could make it through. Keith heard the others calling his name as he crashed into the ships. There were too many of them, this had been a miscalculated move on his part, and one that he could no longer take back as he ducked and swerved around Galra ships. He knew that the others were far enough away, and whatever was trying to win inside of him was making it more and more difficult to pilot Red. His top priority was to get his Lion to safety, he could not risk it falling back into the Galra's hands. Keith cringed, his body going tense, and his Lion freezing up alongside him.

 _Fuck!_ Keith thought, his chest was burning in pain and his vision was swimming. He couldn't pilot Red out of the battle in this state. He was useless, he should have told the others about the pain that was ripping through him, and the thing that desperately wanted to tear him apart. He knew that Lryda had affected him with some kind of magic that day, and perhaps it had been calculated to stop him from being able to be a competent pilot in the heat of battle. If that was the case, it was working.

"Keith!  _Get out of there!"_ Shiro commanded. Kieth flinched, his only option now was to spare Red and get the lion out of there in one piece. He knew he couldn't get out while he was still piloting, the Lion had far better instincts when it was on its own, and it would obey him if he told it to go.

"Red, Eject." He said softly, panic building in his stomach as he realized the full weight of what he was doing. A moment later, he was flying out of the Lion, tumbling through space as he got his jetpack under control. 

" _What the hell are you doing?"_ Lance screamed. Keith could see Blue turn and start to head back towards the ships.

" _Get out of here!"_ Keith cried, at both his Lion and his fellow Paladins. " _Go!"_

Red quickly turned, piloting itself out of the mess, and reaching the others without a problem as Keith felt pain rip through him again. A moment later he felt that interception beam lock onto him and begun to pull him towards the Galra ship. The others were yelling, he could hardly comprehend their words as he was sucked into that alien ship. The thing within him seemed to relax at the sight of the ship.

Keith closed his eyes, giving into whatever lurked in his blood.

If he was a monster, then there would be no better place to unleash himself than on a Galra ship.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lel, find a seat children, it's torture time 
> 
> I'm on [tumblr](http://uniwhaletrash.tumblr.com/) if you want to chat


	9. Innocent Skins

"Lance, we have to retreat!" Pidge yelled as she ducked behind Hunk. The Red Lion had already piloted its way back to its hanger, how could Keith do something soincredibly stupid? Lance was shaking his head, still trying to reach his friend even after he had disappeared into the Galra ship. 

"We can't just leave him!" Lance sobbed, still reaching out for the other boy. He couldn't do this again, he wouldn't leave his friend behind like this. Keith was always doing things like this alone, and Lance was sick of watching his friend throw himself away like that. 

"We're not going to leave him," Shiro said quietly. "But we cannot win right now, we have to... reevaluate our plan... Keith would do the same in our position."

Lance shook his head, choking back his tears. He felt so useless, he didn't understand why Keith had done it, everything was just a goddamn mess. Whatever Keith hadn't been telling them might have led to this, the other boy never made a move without calculation, so what reason could he possibly have for making Red eject him? Keith was a fantastic pilot on his own and shouldn't have had trouble making it out of there, even if he was aving difficulties, Red would have gotten him out.

Lance managed to turn his Lion around and fly away, tears blurring his vision as he left his friend behind. 

~

"We have to go back for him," Lance said, trying to keep the desperation from his voice. "Before it's too late... Why the hell would he do that? His Lion could have gotten him out of there just fine..."

Shiro stared ahead grimly. "He told me something that didn't make sense until now. He said that both the witch and Lryda had told him in different ways that there was something different about him, that he was not aware of his true lineage... Keith told me not to think about it too much, but I could tell that it was bothering him, affecting him even." 

"Why didn't he want to tell us then?" Lance asked. 

"I think we wanted to figure it out on his own, he didn't want us to worry," Shiro said. "I should have done more, I should have been there--"

"Shiro," Allura said, setting her hand on his shoulder. "You can't blame yourself. If you keep dwelling on things that have already happened then you'll be distracted when you try to move on."

Lance watched as Shiro nodded, Allura's touch and words calming him almost instantly. He would have found it sweet if Lance wasn't too busy thinking about Keith. His friend was alone on a Galra ship, and sure, they were all worried for him, but they were still just standing around, they didn't have Keith back yet. Lance gritted his teeth, his fingers curling into fists. He knew he wouldn't be able to rest until Keith was back on the ship, he hadn't been able to sleep until they had found him on that planet a few days ago. 

"Okay," Lance started, as calmly as he could manage. "What's our plan?"

~

Keith was ready. As soon as the interception beam dropped him inside the Galra ship he was ready to fight. He had used those last moments to let his control go, he had seen his friends get away, so now, all he had to do was let the monster loose and raise hell for those damn Galra. 

When he hit the deck of the ship, there wasn't a shred of restraint or self-control left within him. He didn't want to know what he had become, all he knew was that he wanted to tear that species of power-hungry, slaving bastards apart. Keith felt stronger, and his hearing had improved. He could hear them shouting, and he knew exactly which part of the ship he had been dropped into. Keith flexed his fingers readily as he heard a group of Galra soldiers gather around his position from either side. 

A snarl ripped through him as the doors on either side opened.

He was ready to become a monster for his friends, the only thing that kept him sane was knowing that he had prevented them from dealing with this version of him.

 _You and I are alike Keith, we are both merely monsters wearing innocent skins_.

Now his innocent skin was gone and he was going to make the most of whatever he had been holding down. 

He leapt into action, punching, swiping, and giving into the instincts he felt as he fought. He swept right and left, dodging their attacks and landing his own with an ease that he had never felt before. He could feel a triumphant grin on his face as he counted  how many soldiers he took out to himself. He would have to count those against Lance next time they saw each other, he was positive he had won the bet that would land Lance doing dishes for the next month. 

When he saw them again... Would he still be the Keith they knew?

Something crashed through him in that moment, and as he fought, he realized he was barely holding back a sob. 

Who the hell was he? What was he becoming?

He could only hope that the other Paladins would still recognize when this was all said and done. 

Keith drove his knee into another Galra's stomach, dropping him almost instantly, he certainly felt quicker, but at what cost? Keith knocked out another few soldiers before reassessing his situation, at this rate he might very well take the ship hostage all on his own. The thought was as amusing as it sounded, he entertained it as he tried to fight his way through another few soldiers.

In truth, he knew that the fight would not end with him going free.

The others would come back for him. He could only pray that he was not this  _thing_ when they arrived.

He had guessed what he was with every hint that had been dropped, but he still did not know if he could look into a mirror and admit it to himself without vomiting. So he avoided anything that he might see his reflection in--if only to preserve his mentality in that horribly long fight.

 _"Stand down!"_ A horribly familiar, mocking voice barked angrily. "Do you creatures not listen? You Galra have no self-control." Keith paused, keeping himself ready to pounce on whoever had called out that order.

A young female with striking red eyes, lightly grayed skin, and now, with war paint under her eyes, walked towards him, the Galra soldiers parted for her in respect.

Keith felt bile rising in his throat, he might lose his space goo without even needing to see his new skin. 

The woman stopped in front of him with a catlike smile, a long, sculpted knife dancing in her delicate hands.

"Hello, Keith." Lryda purred.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, friends, I know that this is a super short update, so sorry! I'll likely have time to update again tomorrow, so hopefully, that makes up for it ^//^
> 
> Sooooo, yeah, that just happened XP
> 
> I'm on [tumblr](http://uniwhaletrash.tumblr.com/) if you want to chat


	10. Pain Yields Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So like warning: there's some low-key torture in this chapter, nothing horribly descriptive, but I thought I should let you all know anyway :)

"What the hell..." Keith whispered. Lryda's smile grew as she looked him up and down, knife still dancing between her fingers. 

"You can't think that we met coincidentally, can you?" Lyrda mocked, beginning to circle Keith. He watched her carefully, keeping an even distance from her as she stalked around him. Something about her had changed since he had last encountered her. Her voice had become colder, and her eyes duller. Keith swallowed as she stopped. "I did not know that Paladins of Voltron could be so naive."

Keith gritted his teeth, resisting the urge to punch some goddamn sense into her. She could not have been acting on that planet, she had been too real, no one could fake the pain that she had shown him. He did not know her story, did not understand her, but he was certain that she was not his enemy.

"I see you've finally decided to shed your innocent skin." She mocked. "Do your friends know what you are? Do they know that you are no different from the race you so claim to hate? Look at yourself, Keith, you are  _one of them_ , the monsters that have terrorized your friends, you are not different from them."

"Shut up." Keith snarled. 

 The winning look on Lryda's face disappeared so quickly that Keith was convinced it had never been there in the first place. "You said that you fought against them, you tried to convince me that you were different, I see now that you are not."

"Lryda," Keith whispered, keeping an eye on the soldiers around them. "We can fix this, they are  _using_ you, they will get rid of you once they are done with you, listen to me, this is not who you are."

She stared at him for a moment before laughing, her voice dead. "You will find that I am many things and disposable is not one of them. They are not using me, I am here out of my own will." Her cold eyes found his own. "You will not be leaving here alive or free, Keith." She said.

Keith raised his bayard, readying himself to fight. "Bring it on."

Lryda smiled but did not move on him. Instead, she took a deep breath, willing herself to begin to shift into something else entirely. "Would you like to see my innocent skin shed?" A moment later, her entire form had shifted, until an identical version of Lance McClain stood in front of him, the only difference was the cruelty in this versions eyes. Keith's heart stuttered, he knew that she was trying to confuse him, but the shifter was an identical copy of Lance in every way. 

She had known to hit where he was the weakest. 

Lryda was not a member of a lost race, she was a shape-shifter, she could be part of whatever species she chose, and she had chosen to become the Blue Paladin. The shifter-Lance smile grew as he examined himself. 

"I quite like this body," Not-Lance said. "I bet he likes it too, it's rather strong, not to mention good-looking."

Keith snarled. "Get out of his body, find something else to become, shifter." He was trying not to lose his head, but seeing her take on Lance's body was too much, he would kill that damn woman, he would tear her apart with his bare hands.

"Ooh! You like this body too," She said slyly. "Can you stand to hurt me when I look like him?"

He knew that if he hesitated he would only be proving her point, yet he stayed planted to his spot. There was a time when he would have gladly punched his friends face in, but now... he couldn't do that...

Without warning, Not-Lance attacked, their foot connecting with Keith's chest, easily sending him into the nearby wall. Keith gasped for air, clutching his ribs, he was sure that she had broken at least a few of them, yet he could already feel them knitting themselves back together, he was astounded at how quickly he was back on his feet, charging Not-Lance, and slamming him into the opposite wall while punching relentlessly. He couldn't think about it for too long, he wasn't hurting Lance, he was hurting an imposter, yet his punches began to slow, and it became an effort to raise his fist again. 

Lryda caught his hesitation and brought her knee up between his legs, causing Keith to double over, opening himself up for her foot coming back down, forcing him into the ground with one brutal kick. 

Keith felt blood running from his nose and mouth and could see it on the floor around him. A moment later, he felt Lryda's foot connect with his head, and he was gone.

~

When Keith awoke again he had no clue where he was. The room was dark, only dimly lit by a purple glow. He tried to move but found himself restrained, chained down. He tried to quell the panic that was rising in his throat as he pulled against the restraints, he had been stripped of his armor and was wearing his t-shirt and jeans again. He looked down at the cuffs around his hands, his ankles were also cuffed.  

He had gained strength, but it still wasn't enough.  

Keith took a deep breath and looked down at his arm. 

What he saw made bile rise in his throat, he had guessed at his lineage, but seeing it now was another thing entirely.

There was purple fur on his arms, his skin underneath a light grayish purple. He stared back up at the ceiling, his heart rate increasing.

He was one of them.

He was Galra.

~

The Lions tracked the ship that they had seen Keith disappear on with a cloaking mechanism that Pidge had added to their Lions in haste. She had been working on it for the Lions for the past few weeks and had completed her upgrades on the Lions earlier that day before they had set out to track the ship. 

"They appear to be heading back towards a nearby Galra base," Pidge said as she tapped on her laptop, she had managed to drop a tracking device in the ship when they had been gathering data on before the plan had gone horribly wrong. 

"Then we have to intercept it and get Keith out before it gets there," Lance responded. He hadn't been acting the same since Keith had disappeared the first time. That day before they had located him on the uninhabited planet, Lance had been downright ballistic. Then, even when Keith was back, he and Lance had been acting...  _different,_ mostly towards each other, but it was strange for the rest of the team to not be tearing those two apart.

Perhaps the separation had scared them into getting along.

But now, Keith was in danger again, and Lance had been tense and fidgeting ever since he had to watch his friend disappear into an enemy ship.

Pidge sighed through her nose, typing a few adjustments into her laptop. 

War had its effects on everyone, it took any last innocence they had, and sometimes it took those who were closest to them.

"C'mon Keith," Pidge whispered. "Don't do this to us, you have to be alive in there."

All she could do was continue on.

~

He couldn't tell if he was screaming, sobbing, or both as he was broken and bent over and over again, incoherent questions being asked in his ears.

Keith had no idea how long it had been since he ended up on that torture rack.

He had no idea how many hours, or even  _days_ it had been since he had bought the other Paladins time to get away. 

All he knew was the pain. All he knew were the questions that were repeated over and over.

They wanted to know his lineage, something he could not tell them. 

They wanted to know about Voltron, he would not break, he  _couldn't_ tell them without putting his team in danger, and he would not let these monsters lay another hand on his family. 

Keith was one of them, he was Galra, but he felt no loyalty to them, he would not yield to those monsters. They could torture him for the rest of eternity and he would not turn his back on his friends. He owed the Galra nothing, he did not care about who his parents had been.

He had overheard something about his blood, likely something that he was not supposed to hear. Something about his blood being split, he was only Demi-Galra, he was not a pureblood. Hearing that had sent relief flooding through his veins. 

Yet he still did not know how he was supposed to face his friends and tell them that the one alien race that they despised the most ran through his veins. The Galra had ripped apart Pidge's family, tortured Shiro, and had taken everything away from Allura and Coran 10,000 years ago. How the hell was he supposed to even look them in the eyes knowing that Galra blood ran through his veins? How was he supposed to be in their presence while he looked like one of those monsters?

So far, Keith had no idea how to turn back into himself, or if he could turn back at all.

These were the thoughts that he pondered while blatantly ignoring the questions that he was asked and tortured for the answers to.

One of the breaks in the pain, one that he could remember, he had seen her again, the shifter and the liar, Lryda.

She had entered the small room silently, leaning against the wall and watching as Keith tried to regain his breath. He had been sobbing in pain. The Galra's methods were brutal, his skin had been cut open and his bones broken multiple times, and he kept regenerating, at one point he had wished that he would simply die. 

Lryda had said nothing as he tried to find his voice, she had stared at him, something haunting her eyes.

"What are  _you_ doing here?" He had barely managed to croak out.

She shrugged, looking away from him quickly. "I was wondering if you had died yet."

"As if." He snorted, resting his head back against the cool metal and breathing in the stale air.

"If you give into them, the pain will end." She whispered.

"Is that what you did, Lryda? You have such power, you can become anything you want, why would you let them use that power for themselves?" 

Lryda fell silent again, shaking her head. "You understand nothing."

"Then _enlighten_ me," He responded bitterly. 

"I'm going to survive," Lryda said simply. "I will not be like my people, they died rather than giving in, now I am the last." Her voice was sad, regretful even. "My people died because they were foolish, you are just like them, a fool."

Keith shook his head, deadly tired, but he still needed to know whether or not she could be saved, there could still be hope for the young shifter, and she could make a powerful ally and perhaps even change the tide of war. "I will gladly die for my friends, it's better to die than to become a puppet, Lyrda."  

"I am not a puppet."

"Then what are you?"

Lryda looked at him for a long moment, clenching and unclenching her hands into fists. Then, without another word, she left. 

After that, they pain had resumed, and Keith lost all sense of time again. 

~

It might have been days, weeks, or even years before Keith finally heard it. 

A Galra alarm sounding throughout the ship. Intruders had boarded the ship and were to be apprehended immediately. 

Keith struggled against his restraints, calling out for his companions, it had to be them, who else would risk infiltrating a Galra ship? 

His voice was extremely hoarse, he had needed water for a horrible amount of time now. He still managed to cry out for them through the dryness in his throat. 

Keith could hear fighting, shouts, and bodies falling. They had come back for him, and he could finally get off of that goddamn torture rack.

The door opened, and Keith turned his head.

Lryda shoved through the door, her knife raised, and ready to kill.

His heart sank, so close to freedom, only to be ended while chained down and stabbed by someone he would have rather viewed as a friend. He stared at her, his body tense in terror, he was going to die, he was never going to see the other Paladins again.

He was never going to see Lance again.

Keith closed his eyes, preparing himself for that final blow.

Instead, his shackles fell to the floor, and the shifter was helping him up, off the table. 

"Let's go," She smiled ruefully. "I have your possessions, your Paladins are waiting, Keith."

"Why?" Was all Keith could croak out.

Lryda kicked open the door, pulling Keith with her towards the battle, towards his friends. 

"Because," She started. "I decided that I was done with being their puppet, so I decided to cut my strings." 

Lryda looked up at him, baring her teeth in a predatory smile that would have had most men running in the other direction. Keith managed to smile back at the young shifter as the ship erupted into hell around them.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)))))))) 
> 
> Hello, my dudes, I hope you enjoyed that emotional-fucking-rollercoaster, I know writing it felt one.
> 
> What did you all think???
> 
> I'm on [tumblr](http://uniwhaletrash.tumblr.com/) if you want to chat


	11. Stay

Keith was wheezing by the time Lryda had dragged him through a few long hallways of the large Galra ship. His wounds were healing, but not quickly enough. Lyrda had tossed him a sack of his possessions before moving ahead of him, raising a blaster cautiously as she edged around the next corner. She gestured for Keith to follow behind her as she went ahead, shooting down anyone who got in their way before moving gradually to the escape pods. Keith could hear his friends fighting nearby, he wanted to go to them, he needed to know that he would be safe.

Yet, what if they did not recognize him like this?

Fear thrummed through his veins as he followed Lyrda. He stared down at his hands and reached to touch his ears and face. This was still new, even for him, and he still was not sure that he would even recognize himself.

_You're a monster._

Keith shook his head, running his fingers through his hair, it felt greasy and gross from all the sweating he had done and the absence of showering. He frowned, he was gross and looked like a Galra, what a great way to confront his companions. 

The Red Paladin wobbled a bit as he sprinted after Lryda, he knew that someone was close, and in the distance, he heard someone else.

" _Goddammit, Keith!_ " Lance yelled in the distance. " _Where the hell is he."_  

Lyrda grabbed Keith and pulled him behind a corner, kneeling down in a small space between hallways. "Use your helmet, tell them that you're heading for the escape pod," Lryda said. "I used the helmet to contact them and lead them in."

"Right," Keith responded a bit distantly, he pulled the helmet out of the sack along with his Bayard. He slipped the helmet over his head, looking to make sure no one was nearby before whispering into the communicator. "Guys?" He asked weakly.

"Keith?!" Lance asked immediately. "Are you okay? Where are you?"

Keith swallowed, he felt dizzy, and it wasn't from his injuries alone. "Yeah... I'm okay... Um, I'm with Lryda, we're heading towards an escape pod on the southern deck." He coughed into his sleeve. 

"Keith," Shiro said. "Meet us in the docking bay, we need to get out of here as soon as we can, understood?"

"Understood." 

"I'm coming to your location," Pidge said. "You don't sound too good..."

Keith looked up at Lryda in panic. "I'm okay."

"Last time you kept shit to yourself you ended up here, Keith, just let me help you out, I already pinpointed your location." Pidge shot back.

"I'm coming too," Lance said, the sound of him firing his blaster echoing throughout the ship. Keith flinched a bit, looking to Lryda for help. She merely shrugged as he took the helmet off.

"They told me to meet them in the docking bay, what should we do?" He asked, activating his Bayard as he stood, leaning against the wall for support as he checked for enemies. Lryda shrugged again, infuriatingly neutral to the situation. 

"They're your friends," She said. "You wanted them to trust you, so you need them to know about this, even if it crushes them, it will be better than lying." 

Keith nodded, yet it was difficult to believe it. Lryda was still staring at him. "They'll be here soon," Keith said.

"We should start moving towards the docking bay in case they run into problems." 

"Right."

They moved off towards the bay, Keith navigating around the large fights with his hearing. He wasn't ready for this, he hadn't had enough time to deal with whatever the hell he was, he wasn't ready for this emotional shit, and he wasn't ready for the questions and the prospect of never being the same.

Keith was exhausted. That was all.

He was sick of having pain flung in his direction, he was strong, he knew that, but he was tired of having to deal with emotional duress. He hated that he had trouble reaching out to his fellow Paladins and that it had led them into this situation. 

God, he hated himself. 

Keith leaned against the wall, forcing Lryda to slow to a stop. He took a deep breath, willing himself to calm down. He would be fine, he was still Keith, he was still the person they knew. 

He didn't know how much more of this he could take.

"Keith!" He could hear Lance calling from a few halls away. 

"We're almost to him," Pidge responded.

Lryda was peeking around the next corner again. "There are too many of them, we need to go around."

Keith quickly slipped his helmet on again. "There are too many of them, don't come this way--" He was cut off by Lance shouting in surprise and the sound of fighting around the corner.

"TOO LATE!" Pidge yelled. Lance was shooting as well as he could at point-blank and Pidge was slicing at the Galra that reached her as well as checking her small mapping device,

"Shit," Keith swore, dumping his possessions to the ground, everything but his Bayard. "We have to help them."

"You're injured." Lryda pointed out simply, "and they ran into the reinforcements, there are at least thirty soldiers out there." 

"That's why I need to help them," Keith growled. "You can come with me or not, it doesn't really matter to me."

A moment later, Lryda was stalking straight into the midst of the battle, drawing her knives and leaping into action. Keith did his best to follow her example, but slower. His visions spun as he swung his Bayard left and right, trying not to make eye contact with the Paladins that were on the other side of this mess. They were here because of him, so he had to do his best to get them out alive. 

Keith faltered a bit and was slammed into the wall by one of the larger Galra soldiers. The soldier's large hand clamped around Keith's throat, pushing him up against the wall and slowly beginning to choke the life out of him.

Keith gagged and kicked out at the beast. He was far smaller in comparison but managed to land a hard enough kick to the soldier's ribs so he was dropped back to the floor, gasping for air. He felt weak, but still managed to push the large soldier off him and drop him with one last blow to the abdomen. 

The Red Paladin leaned against the wall, barely covering himself as he tried to recover. Lryda was by his side, protecting him as he regained himself, the amount of torture they had done to him had really taken its toll on him. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Pidge and Lance fighting. The Blue Paladin hadn't looked at him once, while Pidge was staring at him, her eyes narrowed in confusion as she continued to fight her way through the reinforcement soldiers. Keith met her eyes for a moment before feeling a wave of shame wash through him, as if  _he_ could control his lineage and something that had just happened to be in his veins.

Pidge looked away from her fight for one moment, finding him again and beginning to move towards Lryda and him. Lance had looked over but hadn't caught on yet, of course, that idiot hadn't recognized Keith.

Bitter disappointment mixed with regret spread through Keith as he got to his feet again. He took a step in Lance's direction, needing him to look at Keith in that moment. He needed Lance more than anything right now, he needed to know that he would still have Lance when it was all over. 

He needed his friend. God, he needed him so bad.

"Is that..." Pidge started with a whisper, distracted from the battle around her. Keith swallowed, pausing to look at the Green Paladin. "Keith?" He voice was strangled and confused. 

He nodded slowly, and Pidge balked.

"What?" Lance asked, his focus on blasting another soldier down. 

"There--"

" _Pidge look out!"_ Lance yelled suddenly, cutting her off completely. As she was staring at Keith, she hadn't noticed the Galra soldier that charged her. Keith reached out, pushing off the wall, trying to reach the Paladin before she was brutally cut down. He briefly saw as someone moved past him quicker than he thought was possible, shielding Pidge with her body. 

The Galra soldier stabbed his glowing hand straight through Lryda's back. as she used herself to protect the Green Paladin.

Keith stopped dead, horror rising within him as Lryda used herself to protect the Green Paladin. 

The Galra soldier pulled his weapon out of Lryda's back slowly, dark blood slipping from his metal arm and pooling on the floor around Lryda's fallen form. A moment later, Lance shot the Galra soldier down, his eyes flicking between Lryda and Keith who had frozen to his spot, shaking so badly that he was sure he wouldn't be able to make it the last few steps to Lryda's fallen form.

"Oh my god..." Pidge whispered in horror, staring down at the fallen shifter. "Oh my god, oh my god, Lance, we need to get her to the healing pods or... Oh god..."

Keith stumbled to Lryda and dropped next to her body, shaking her as tears spilled down his face. He pulled her close as she coughed, the battle still raging on around them, Lance had stepped in front of them and Pidge had pulled herself together enough to start fighting again. Lryda was covered in dark blood, she had coughed up enough so it was dribbled all down her chin and neck, and her middle had a hole straight through it.

She wouldn't last much longer, not with that kind of wound.

"Stay," Keith sobbed unable to get anything else out, he couldn't speak through the painful pressure that was builing in his lungs, he could barely breathe. Lryda was staring up at him, pain and confusion swimming in her eyes as she tried to comprehend what was happening to her. "This can't be happening, not when you were so close to making it out of here. You have to stay,"

Lryda coughed again, dark blood slipping quicker from her already pale body. She found his eyes with her own, as she was fading, her eyes grew soft, and tears began to slip down her face. Keith gripped her hand tightly, unable to let her go. She was his friend, she could have joined them, she could have found a family again like he did. It was so unfair, she was on the path back to the light, and the others would have helped her back up onto her feet. 

Instead, Keith had to watch as her life slowly left.

"Thank you," She whispered so softly and so unbelievably weakly that he almost missed it. "I will finally see my family again... this must be my atonement..."

"Lryda..." Keith choked out. "You're going to be fine, we can get you help, just don't close your eyes,  _please!"_  

She smiled weakly, raising her hand to brush away his tears. "Go to them... I would have liked to go with you... you showed me... that light still exists in this world...  _thank you, Keith."_ Her hand slid from where she had set it against Keith's cheek as her body fell limp within Keith's arms.

For a moment, all Keith could hear was a pounding silence pressing down on him, numbness pulsing through his veins. 

A cry of anger and sorrow erupted from him as he wept over Lryda's bloody, broken body. 

He was so sick of not being able to protect those whom he loved.

Pidge and Lance were still fighting, but there were so many soldiers, they would be overwhelmed soon if the other Paladins did not reach their position soon.  

Keith stood covered in Lryda's blood with anger burning violently in his eyes. 

"K-Keith?" He numbly heard Lance ask. 

"Don't get in my way," Keith responded blankly, raising his Bayard. 

He would put an end to them, he would tear every last one of those damn Galra apart.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so, so sorry...
> 
> I hate myself right now.
> 
> I'm on [tumblr](http://uniwhaletrash.tumblr.com/) if you want to chat


	12. Gone

Lance stared in horror as that alien girl fell after protecting Pidge, he felt bile rising in his throat as he heard Keith cry out in rage and sorrow. 

"K-Keith..." Lance asked as he saw his friend stand. He was still confused and a bit hesitant, he hadn't been expecting to find the Red Paladin so beat up and so undeniably inhuman. That must have been what he had been so afraid to tell the others about, this must have been what he did not understand.

Keith was Galra.

Lance gritted his teeth as he shot down another soldier, just because Keith was Galra did not mean that he was any different from before. He was still the Red Paladin, he was still the friend that they all knew and cared about. It changed nothing.

"Don't get in my way," Keith said, his voice blank, and his eyes dead. Lance tried to reach for him as he raised his Bayard, pouncing in action with uncanny stamina. 

Lance watched in utter disbelief as his friend began to drop Galra troops without hesitation, without mercy.

" _Keith!"_ Lance yelled again. "Stop, you're injured--" He stopped, interrupted by an attack from another soldier.  

Keith had turned to look at Lance for a brief second before turning back to his fight. He wasn't listening, he would fight until they were all gone or until he was killed trying. Lance growled angrily, why did Keith have to always be such a stubborn asshole?

"I don't know if he can really hear you," Pidge said softly, stepping next to him, sweating profusely while gasping for air. "Not in that way that counts at least."

"What are you talking about? He's still Keith."

Pidge flinched. "I'm not saying that he's not, but he's also more than the Keith we know."

Lance shook his head. "Let's not think about this right now, as far as we should be concerned, our objective is still the same."

"Right."

Lance turned back to the battle, blasting Galra off of Keith's ass as they fought, he kept watching only praying that Keith would be the same when this all came to an end.

~

Keith looked around at the hallway of fallen Galra soldiers and let himself fall to the ground, looking around at the remains of the battle around him. He dropped his Bayard, doubling over to vomit. He coughed violently and wiped his mouth before shakily trying to stand, only to fall to his knees again moments later. Lance was staring down at him, unable to approach, out of fear or disgust, Keith did not know. 

Pidge had moved to Lryda's body and was talking feverishly into her communicator.

"We need to get out before another unit arrives. Yes, they're both okay, but Keith... nevermind, we'll be there soon." He heard Pidge saying lowly, her voice was flat and grim. They had all seen too many horrors within the past twenty-four hours.  

Lance finally found it within himself to move towards Keith slowly. "A-are you okay?" He choked out, his voice strangled. 

Keith nodded, not daring to turn to look at Lance, he could hardly move, and after that display of pure hatred, he wouldn't be surprised if Lance saw him as a monster. He hadn't shown any mercy to the soldiers, he had made sure that they all went down because of what they had done. He stared down at his hands, they were still stained with Lryda's blood which had begun to dry within his purple fur. 

He dragged himself to his feet again, fighting the urge to collapse completely this time. Lance was staring at him, his eyes dark with some amount of concern and hesitance. "What... You're--" Lance stopped, clamping his mouth shut. "We should go."

Keith shook his head, limping to where Lryda lay and plopping himself down, against the wall next to her. "Just leave me." He said weakly.

"What? No." Lance said, stalking over to Keith and attempting to pull the other boy up by his shoulders. Keith slapped Lance's hands away, pulling his knees to his chest and leaning his head against the wall. "C'mon Keith, we need to go before another reinforcement unit shows up."

"I don't care."

"Yes you do, now  _get up_ _!_ "

Pidge was watching silently, her mouth pressed into a firm line to keep her lips from trembling. "Keith, we have to go, everyone else is waiting..." She whispered, taking a tentative step towards him. "I know that you're in shock and that you're confused, but we can figure this out,  _together_ from now on... Okay?" 

Keith was silent, his body trembled, he hadn't wanted them to see him this way, he couldn't handle it. "Fine..." He said, his voice broken. "Then let's go."

Lance helped Keith to his feet, bracing an arm around him to keep him standing. He took one last look at Lryda's ashen face, the blankness in her dead eyes made bile begin to rise in his throat again.

He looked away.

~

Hunk and Shiro were having about as bad of a time as the others, fighting off soldiers, defending the Lions and waiting for Lance and Pidge to return with Keith. It had already been at least ten minutes since they had run off, Pidge locating Keith on the device she and Hunk had quickly put together after receiving Lryda's message through Keith's helmet. 

That had been the real surprise, the shifter had led them into the ship and then had run to free Keith as they had arrived. She would make an extraordinary ally in the future. 

That was if they all managed to make it out again.

The odds seemed to be stacked against them in that fight, and it was getting to the point where they would soon have to retreat.

"We're on our way back!" Pidge called through their communications. "Allura, are you ready to fly like hell when we make it back to the castleship?"

"Absolutely," She replied, Coran was babbling about some functions in the background, Shiro ignored him, savoring the sound of Allura's calm voice. 

"Good," Pidge responded. "Shiro, Hunk, get back to your Lions ASAP, we're just around the corner."

Hunk gave Shiro a questioning look, waiting for confirmation. Shiro nodded, turning to sprint back to his own lion. "Hurry up, I'll reopen the bay door when I see that you're safely inside your Lions," Shiro said, managing to keep himself sounding calm. He was a bit past calm, being back in one of those ships continued to bring up memories, and it was difficult to focus on the fight. Shiro sat down at his control panel, quelling the headache that had begun to grow behind his temple. They were almost done, a minute or so before the others made it to the Lions and then they would be gone.

Pidge and Lance who was half-carrying, half-dragging Keith broke around the corner, going as fast as the could with the half-unconscious Keith. 

As he saw Keith, Shiro's mouth went dry. 

"Are you seeing this?" Hunk asked Shiro. "Is that Keith?"

Shiro nodded, staring in their direction. "Yeah... that must be what those aliens meant when they talked about him..."

The Red Paladin was not entirely human.  

Shiro watched as Pidge got to her Lion safely and Lance pulled Keith into his own. Without another word, he opened the bay doors, and they were flying back out into the vast universe, flying like hell towards the castleships location before the Galra could organize any kind of pursuit. 

~ 

Keith sat against the wall as Lance piloted Blue through space. They had left the castleship a good distance away from the Galra ships to avoid another full-fledged attack. Lryda had helped them sneak onto the ship, and had then gone to retrieve Keith, telling the Paladins to use the docking bay to enter and escape the ship. Lance filled him in as they flew back towards the castleship. 

After about ten minutes, they were fairly confident that the Galra were not in pursuit of them, and they stopped taking fake turns and flying through meteor belts as a precaution. Gradually, the Lions came closer together again, flying to the ship together in silence. 

Lance yawned loudly, pulling off his helmet and turning autopilot on before standing. He turned to check on Keith, who was staring at the ground blankly, there was no longer any light in his eyes, his shoulders had drooped and he looked completely and utterly exhausted with life. Lance took one last look at the control panel before carefully moving to sit down across from his friend.

They were both silent for a long time, neither wanting to disturb the other's thoughts.

"Keith," Lance started after a long moment. The Red Paladin's eyes shifted to him for a moment before looking away again. "I'm sorry. About Lryda, about all of this, I'm so sorry."

Keith shook his head tiredly. "It'll be fine... we'll be fine..." He whispered tightly. Lance felt his throat tighten as Keith closed his eyes, leaning his head against his knees. 

"Yeah..." Lance whispered, looking out at the dark space that was passing them by. The castleship was in the near distance. 

"I don't want them to see me like this..." Keith murmured. "Do I look like a monster to you, Lance?"

Lance recoiled a bit, shaking his head. "No, of course not, how could you even think that?"

"I don't know anymore, I mean, look at me." He snapped back, a hint of his regular sarcasm and annoyance in his tone. Lance would have been revealed to hear that familiar tone had it not been for the bitterness and pain that he also heard in Keith's words. 

"I don't care what you are, you'll always be the same Keith to me," Lance said with a sad smile. "You know, Lance and Keith, neck and neck. That guy with the stupid mullet that I would be able to recognize anywhere."

Keith didn't respond. Lance's heart sunk as he looked at his friend, he looked so unbelievably sad and defeated in that moment. 

"We're almost back to the castleship," Lance said weakly. "Hang in there." With that, he stood and moved back to the control panel and took a seat.

What he wasn't able to see was how hard Keith started shaking and how quickly the tears came as he began to weep.

~

Much to his relief, the others did not ask him many questions when they arrived back to the ship, instead, Lance helped him to his room after he refused the healing pod over and over again, claiming that he only needed to sleep. Eventually, he had gotten his way and was able to lock himself in his room alone.

Lance had offered to bring him food later or to stay and talk if Keith needed him. 

He turned the Blue Paladin's offer down, claiming that he just needed some time. When he finally got Lance out of the room, he locked the door and sat on his bed, staring at the ceiling, willing himself to forget the horribly vivid images of Lryda's body on the ground and the things he had done to those Galra soldiers in a blind rage.

Keith shakily made his way to the bathroom and stared at his reflection in the mirror.

He raised a hand to his face, his ears, and to the blood that had dried on his purple skin.

There had to be someway to turn him back to normal, he had to have triggered something within him that forced his body into Galra form. He had lived as a human for so many years without a trace of this, so it made no sense for him to suddenly change with no way to change back.

He stared at himself for another long moment, trying to register that his skin had indeed changed to an entirely different color, and his eyes were glowing yellow. 

He desperately wanted to turn himself back, he did not know how much longer he could look at himself without becoming violently ill. 

Keith had lived on his own for a long time, he had dealt with many different scenarios on his own, and he had learned to live with himself and become comfortable within his own skin. He had thought that he had known himself completely, and he had believed that he had come to terms with anything that dwelled within him. Now, over the course of not even a week, his identity had been torn apart, and everything that he thought he knew about himself was in question.

He turned from the mirror, deciding to shower away all traces of blood and grit that he was certain had permanently embedded itself into him. He would always be able to look at his hands and see the lingering blood there, he would always see Lryda's blood coating his arms and the way she had cried from joy at the end.

After he had showered and redressed himself, Keith fell into his bed and did not move for a very long time.

~

Lance knocked on Keith's door later that evening and waited for a response. He hadn't expected Keith to come out of his room anytime soon, so instead he found that the only ingenious way to approach his friend was to go to him. He had left the Red Paladin alone for a good while, and now he felt like it had been long enough. He couldn't just leave Keith in that condition, not when he had been so obviously pained.

Keith was Galra--or at least partially.

But what did that matter? 

Lance shook his head in frustration, going to knock on the door again. It didn't matter if Keith was different, none of it mattered as long as Keith was still himself, as long as they were still a team. Keith was family now, and none of them would give up on him just like that.

If Keith wasn't already aware of that fact, then Lance would have to do whatever he could to get it across to the other boy.

Earlier, they had informed Coran and Allura to Keith's state, and even them, two Alteans whose lives had been destroyed by the Galra, had not hesitated to reassure them that it wasn't a problem, Keith was still their family as much as he was the Paladins, regardless of his bloodline. It was something that they all had agreed on, and it was something that Keith needed to know. 

He needed to know that he was not alone, Keith needed to know that he still had a family.

Lance sighed, going to try the door.

It was unlocked.

He entered slowly, looking around slowly, trying not to disturb Keith if he were sleeping.

The room was empty.

Lance checked the bathroom and stared at the perfectly tidy room in a horror. 

A note lay on the bed waiting to be found.

_Thank you for everything, but I can't do this. Don't try to find me._

Was all it said in Keith's scrawled handwriting. 

Fear began to rise in Lance's throat as he turned, sprinting out of the room. 

Keith couldn't have gotten too far away from them, not when the others had only gone to bed an hour ago. He wouldn't have snuck out without being fairly certain that the rest of the ship was asleep.

Quickly, Lance checked the hangers, Red was still there, but a small pod was missing. 

Grabbing his armor, Lance made his way to his Lion, leaving a not in the control room for the others to find. He didn't give a shit about whether or not Keith wanted to be found, he wouldn't let his friend leave thinking that he had lost his home. 

Keith couldn't leave, not with so many unresolved problems.

Lance would bring him back, he would not rest until he did. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you ever just feel like you're an entirely dramatic and angst-ridden person? Cuz I do lol. So sorry you're stuck with my angst-ridden ass, have some slightly unnecessary and predictable drama to compensate. 
> 
> A n y w a y, I'm so, so thankful for all of the positive feedback I have gotten so far, thank you all so much!!!
> 
> I'm on [tumblr](http://uniwhaletrash.tumblr.com/) if you want to chat :)


	13. Come Home

"Umm, Lance...?" Pidge started softly, through the communicator. Lance had left nearly an hour ago to find Keith, and no one had noticed until then, most of them had gone to their separate rooms after all and weren't monitoring the hangers. "Where are you?"

"Don't panic Pidge, Keith left, and I'm going after him, I should be back soon, just let the others know if I don't make it back before tomorrow," Lance responded easily, piloting his way through some meteorites as if it were child's play, he was getting close, he could feel it. 

"You should have told someone before taking off," Pidge responded easily, he could hear her typing something into the control panel. 

"I couldn't wait," 

Pidge was silent for a long moment. "He wouldn't really just leave, would he? All he needs is some time to himself... Maybe he just needs to be alone for a little bit, Lance."

"That's the last thing he needs right now!" Lance cried. "Right now, the only thing he needs to know is that he's not alone!" 

"Yeah... I guess. Lance..." Pidge whispered. "Bring him back." The communication line went dead a second later, letting him know that she had left. Lance looked ahead, taking a deep breath, weighing his options as he looked around. His radar said that there was a small, inhabitable planet about fifty miles west from his position and an asteroid belt straight ahead if he continued heading north. He watched for any signs of anyone else out in the universe with him, he could see no one, yet he turned his lion and began to head west, it was the only lead he had, he should have asked Pidge for her help to find him, but he didn't want the others to feel sick of trying to find Keith. Not that they would ever feel that way, but Lance felt like this was something he should do on his own.

Lance looked around one more time, taking a deep, calming breath. He would find his friend, and this time, it would be permanent, he wouldn't let Keith go again.

~

It was another hour before Lance made his way to the planet, exhausted, he had managed to get himself tangled up in some kind of space fight between some alien on the outskirts of the meteor belt. After breaking up the fight, he hurried on to the planet he had originally been aiming for. As far as he could tell, it was the only inhabitable planet in the nearest hundred miles from where the castleship had been floating.

Lance could only cross his fingers and hope that he had made the right guess on where Keith would go and that he hadn't just kept flying. He should have asked Pidge to try and track down the missing shuttle, but he hadn't wanted help in this, even if it was an idiotic notion. 

The Blue Paladin sighed in exasperation as he entered the planets habitable atmosphere. He was careful to go in unnoticed in case the planet was inhabited by anything unfriendly, or a race that would potentially report his whereabouts to the Galra. 

He directed his Lion towards a stony plain that sat in-between mountains and a dense forest, the Plateau was only a few miles long and compared to the mountains and forest around it, it seemed minuscule. 

Lance tapped on his control panel, scanning the stone plains for any signs of life or aircraft. He pinpointed a small craft on the edge of the plains, it was one of the castleships pods no question.

He flew towards it, setting Blue down a good distance from it. Lance took a deep breath, he took off his helmet and slung his coat on, he hadn't bothered with any armor besides his helmet, which had the best communicator installed in it. He cautiously exited his Lion, making sure that the atmosphere was breathable before beginning to trek towards the small craft that Keith must have taken. As Lance approached it, he began to feel more and more nervous, anxiety growing in his chest as he looked around for any signs of his friends.

How the hell was  _he_ supposed to get Keith to listen to him? The other boy never listened to him! He usually did the exact  _opposite_ of whatever Lance recommended. It was so goddamn annoying! Yet, here Lance was, supposedly about to talk his best friend into coming back, in spite of everything that had happened to him while the other Paladins sat around trying to come up with a legible plan to get him out. 

Keith had been through far too much. All Lance wanted to do was lift that weight off of the Red Paladins shoulders, he needed Keith to know that he didn't have to carry his burdens alone, that he wasn't alone, he was  _never_ going to be without a family again--Lance would make sure of it.

"Keith?" Lance called out, his voice strangled with nerves. " _Keith!?"_

There was no response. Lance bit his lip, approaching the ship.

It became evident a bit later that there was no one in aboard the shuttle, it had been left behind for future use. Lance circled it one more time, looking for anything that might lead him to the whereabouts of his friend. 

"Hello!? KEITH?" He yelled again. There was no response again. Lance frowned, looking closely at the ship, by the warmth still in the engine, it had only landed about an hour ago or less. "You have to be here..." He whispered.

He looked up at the nearby forest. Lance walked to the edge of the "trees" and looked down the path that had been created by many things passing through, the only obvious way to go on this planet. He took a few steps down that path before pausing. "Keith?" He asked gently, looking ahead, there was a clearing in the dense plantation.

"Fuck off..." He heard in response, the voice weak, tired, and defeated.

Lance took another step forward, one foot after the other until he had reached that clearing. His friend was leaning against a tree, huddled up in his jacket, knees pulled to his chest, and his forehead resting against his knees. Lance stopped, staring at the Red Paladin before kneeling down to meet him. Keith had cleaned all of the blood off of himself from the fight on the Galra ship, but Lance could see bruises and cuts still marring his immediately purple skin. "C'mon," Lance murmured, reaching for Keith's shoulder. "it doesn't have to be like this Keith."

Before he could see it coming, Keith slapped his hand away and stood, side-stepping where Lance was. "I told you to  _fuck off!_ " He snarled, stalking away. Lance was on his feet in an instant, reaching to catch Keith's wrist easily before he could get too far away from him. 

"Please," Lance said, trying to find Keith's eyes as he stepped in front of the other boy to face him. "Don't do this, we need you,  _I need--_ "

" _Shut up!"_ The Red Paladin ripped his arm from Lance's grip and  _shoved._ It was an effort not to gasp in pain as Lance hit into a tree full-force, sliding down to its base as he tried to regain his breath. Now he had not been expecting  _that_. Keith had practically thrown him across the clearing. Lance looked up at his friend. Keith's eyes were wide and he was gripping his hand close to his chest as if he was horrified by his own strength

Lance managed to stand, a bit shakily, but he managed. "You did not just fucking do that." Lance growled. Keith took a step back, still looking quite horrified with himself. Without warning, Lance charged him, wrapping his arms around Keith's waist and throwing his friend against the ground. Keith threw Lance off of him with uncanny speed and ease, he scrambled away in panic. A moment later, Lance caught him by the front again and drove his fist into his friend's jaw.

Keith froze, his eyes finally finding Lance's as blood dripped from his mouth. Anger flared in his eyes, and Lance found himself pinned against the hard ground a moment later, Keith snarling in his face, baring his teeth predatorily. 

"Do you truly want to discover how much of a monster I've become, Lance?" Keith asked, his voice rough with rage. For a moment, they were both silent, and yet, Lance couldn't help but smile, holding back a hysteric giggle. Keith paused, frowning in confusion. "Why are you _laughing?_ "

"You're kind of adorable when you're angry." Lance laughed. Keith ripped himself away from Lance, recoiling violently at those words. Lance saw fear flicker through Keith's eyes, followed by longing pain.

"Fuck  _off!_ _"_ Keith said, in more of a panic this time, stumbling away from Lance. "Get away from me!"

"Keith..." Lance said, not moving from where he had been thrown on the ground. "I don't think you're a monster, okay? I know a lot has happened in the past few days, but I don't want to lose you because of this. We need you, the whole team, you're part of our family--"

"What the hell do you expect  _me_ to know about  _family?_ Do you think I care? I've never had a family before, so why would I need one now--"

"Stop." Lance said, pushing himself up. "Don't do this to yourself, you don't deserve this pain, Keith. You don't deserve any of this."

Keith leaned against a nearby tree, bowing his head in shame and bunching the shirt over his heart in his fist as if it would take the pain away. "I'm fine. I can do this alone, Lance."

"Oh my God, stop lying to yourself, Keith!" Lance stormed to his friend, gripping his shoulders tightly, too tightly. Lance could feel his palms sweating and his entire body shaking.  _Shit, shit, don't cry_. He chided himself, only to fail a moment later as tears blurred his vision. "Just _come home!_  Everyone is going to be worried sick about you, didn't you think of anyone else when you came up with this _ingenious_ plan to leave? God, Keith!  _Come home!_ Let's go, please, let's go home..."

Keith swallowed, moving to pull himself away. "I'm sorry Lance, I don't belong there, not like this."

"Yes, you do!" 

"Just get away from me." He said, avoiding eye contact with Lance like it was the only thing stopping him from completely breaking down. Keith's shoulders shook, and his lips trembled "Look at me, do you think someone like me should really be a Paladin? I'm a monster, I'm one of _them_."

Lance took a step closer, his hands tightening even further on Keith, making the Red Paladin squirm uncomfortably. "Shut your mouth, idiot, don't say that about yourself."

"I'll say whatever the fuck I want--"

Before Keith could finish, Lance cut him off by pressing his mouth against Keith's.

He had no idea what the fuck he was doing. Keith froze completely, his arms falling limp at his sides as Lance gently moved his lips against the other boys.

He was in such deep shit. He was kissing his closest friend, and he was doing it to shut him up, to get him to come back to him.

It felt kind fucked up, but the way Keith practically melted into the kiss reassured him that it was better than Lance had thought.

He pulled away slowly, only inches between them now, their breath still mixed as Lance took a deep breath. To his surprise, Keith kept still, he did not pull away, nor did he press back into Lance. 

"That shut you up," Lance whispered with a breathy laugh.

"Fuck you,"

"Should I do that again?"

Keith closed his eyes, obviously still thinking too much, he looked pained, but he didn't want Lance to stop. "Yeah..."

After that, they stopped talking. Lance slipped a hand into Keith's hair and another around his waist, pulling him close and kissing him again. He didn't care what this meant, or what it would lead to, for now, he needed Keith to be okay, all he wanted was for the Keith to stop thinking, for him to stop hurting.

In that moment, all Lance wanted was for Keith to feel loved, and he would do anything he could to show him that.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol aren't they cute?? low-key just threw another shit-ton of angst in your face, but I mean, I hope the kissing made up for at least part of it ;) Yep, I'm emotionally drained from writing that.... hope you enjoyed~
> 
> I'm on [tumblr](http://uniwhaletrash.tumblr.com/) if you want to chat :)


	14. All We Have is Time

They were both out of breath. Keith was thankful that Lance was holding him so tightly, because as soon as their lips met, Keith absolutely  _melted._ His heart rate increased and his breath hitched in his throat as Lance met him in a hot, wet, and slightly sloppy kiss. It shut him up for sure, it stopped his brain from processing anything but the fact that he was kissing Lance.

No, Lance was kissing  _him._

Somehow it made the moment far, _far_  sweeter.

When Lance pulled back, his eyes alight with elated shock and his cheeks were bright red. Keith was certain that he didn't look much different.  

"That shut you up," Lance snickered, but his eyes fell back to Keith's lips and stayed there much too long to mean nothing. 

"Fuck you," Keith whispered, trying not to fall right back into that kiss. It was difficult to restrain from merely leaning in again to keep it going, he didn't want it to stop.  

"Should I do that again?"

"Yeah..." Obviously, without a doubt, Lance smiled nervously, hesitating for a moment.

"I..." Lance started. "I don't want you to think that I'm doing this just for the sake of--"

"Lance." Keith interrupted. "I know, just kiss me you idiot." 

Lance nodded quickly. "Right, sorry--"

Before he could finish,  _Keith_ kissed  _him._

God, it felt like heaven. Lance's mouth was hot and wet, but damn, he was an insanely good kisser. Keith closed his eyes and gave himself into that kiss fully, cupping Lance's face in his hands as their mouths worked together. Warmth crept through Keith's chest and held his heart captive as Lance pressed him against a nearby tree. Usually, Keith didn't really notice that the other boy was a few inches taller than him, but when Lance was fully pressed against him like that, his neck slightly bent so his mouth met Keith's, those few inches seemed to make all the difference. 

They parted only for moments at a time to pant for air before meeting again. Fuck, Lance's hands on his body felt so good, having that idiot close to him felt like his own personal kind of heaven, and he never wanted it to stop. If Keith had to choose a place to be for the remainder of his pathetic life, he decided that he would want to spend it entwined in Lance's arms. 

Their kissing grew more intense as Lance gripped Keith's hair and pulled. He gasped a bit, Lance moving to claim his mouth entirely, slipping his tongue along Keith's. His entire body felt like it was on fire, his heart beating out of control.

He was kissing Lance.

And holy fuck, they were making out like the rest of the world did not exist. 

Keith's hands had slipped down to Lance's arms, and his fingers were squeezing him so hard it hurt. Lance didn't seem to notice as he continued to take Keith's breath away with every jut of his chin.

A moment later, Lance finally pulled away putting only an inch or two between their mouths as they shared gasping breaths. 

"Keith," Lance's voice was strained, desperate, and breathless. Keith snatched his mouth again for another long moment of kissing. 

"I want you to say my name like that all of the time," Keith murmured, Lance's breath was hot on his lips as he exhaled, his hand slipping down Keith's back in a gentle caress.

"We should go..." Lance whispered. Keith stopped, staring at Lance's shoulder to avoid eye contact. "C'mon, I don't want the others to worry."

"Fine," Keith said a bit coolly, detaching himself from Lance's arms. "Fine, you're right."

"Keith," Lance reached for him again. If he were smart he would just keep walking, he wouldn't let Lance continue to coax him into staying. 

Instead, he paused long enough for Lance to wrap Keith into another hug, his mouth pressed against the side of Keith's neck. Keith waited for Lance to pull away and start tugging him in the direction of his Lion. 

"What about the ship I took?" Keith asked as Lance led him along. Lance shrugged.

"You're riding back with me, I don't really care about what happens to that shuttle, it's not like the castleship doesn't have more of them." 

"Yeah but--" Keith stopped as Lance turned to him with a small frown. "Nevermind, I guess I took the most shit craft I could find anyway..." 

"Exactly, let's go." 

The two paladins walked across the stone plains to the lion hand in hand. Lance had automatically laced his fingers with Keith's as they walked. God, what were the others going to say? What were they going to think about he and Lance.

Shit, what were they going to say just about  _him?_

Keith stared at the ground, not able to keep his head from bowing a bit as they walked. He was tired and way too nervous about going back then he should have been. He had to remind himself that it would be fine. Lance had found him even when he told him not to. If he belonged on that ship at all it would be with his friend, and he somehow knew that Lance wouldn't abandon him.

He squeezed Lance's hand a bit tighter, resisting the urge to tear up as his eyes burned. 

Keith was shaking by the time they reached the blue Lion. Lance tugged him a bit closer until they were inside the Lion and ready to fly. He quickly tapped commands into the control panel and set the Lion to auto-pilot before turning back to Keith. 

It was difficult to keep himself together, and he hated that Lance could see him like this, so fragile, so weak. 

"Are you okay?" Lance asked softly, setting a gentle hand on Keith's shoulder. Keith nodded. 

"I'm fine."

"You're starting to look more like how you used to..." Lance started. "Like you're changing back or something, I don't really know how to explain it."

Keith looked down at his hands, they were still purple as far as he could tell. "Do you think I can really switch between forms?"

"I don't see why you wouldn't be able to,"

"God I hope so, I don't know if I could permanently handle being purple, you would make too many jokes about red and blue making purple..."

Lance got a big, dopey smile on his face and leaned in close. "You were red, and you liked me because I was blue,"

"No,  _no, shut up."_ Keith yelled. "You are  _not_ funny!"

"I touched you, and you became a lilac sky, get it? Cuz' you're purple!"

"STOP!"

"C'mon dude, you don't like Halsey?"

Keith gaped at him. "And you do?"

"Sure," He shrugged. "But that's beside the point, if you stay purple, I am going to have to find  _so_ many more jokes."

Keith pouted a bit, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall of the lion as it took off, heading back towards the castleship. "If you make one more of your stupid jokes tonight I swear to god I will punch you in those pretty lips of yours."

Lance smiled cockily, stepping towards Keith. "Then how would you expect to enjoy these pretty lips of mine?"

"I suppose I would have to find someone else to kiss."

"Dude, that's cold." By then, Lance was only a step away from him and Keith could feel any sense of self-control he had slipping away.

Keith closed the distance between them, his lips only inches from Lance's again. "Then don't ruin the mood with your stupid jokes."

Lance didn't even bother to reply, instead he pushed Keith against the wall and kissed him.

The ride back to the castleship was an hour well-spent.

~

It was the middle of the night by the time Keith and Lance snuck back through the halls of the castleship. They were both yawning and leaning sluggishly against each other. There was still fire burning within them, but it was decided that they both needed sleep more than anything else that night. 

When Lance reached the door to his room he turned to his friend, meeting those dark blue eyes without hesitation. "Stay with me?"

Keith only nodded in response before moving past Lance into the room. He dropped onto the bed without another word, pulling Lance's jacket tighter around him and burying himself into the pillow and blankets. Lance could only smile down at him before heading to the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth.

Looking in the mirror his face was still burning red and his eyes were bright. He took his time washing up, thinking about the boy he had just spent the past two hours cuddling and making out with. God, it wasn't anything he had expected, but it was still everything he could have wanted. 

When he was done with his bathroom routine, he walked back out, his eyes drooping from exhaustion. Keith was already asleep, his breathing deep. Lance looked down at him with a small smile growing on his face. 

Then he noticed completely, Keith's appearance was entirely human again, he had shifted back from the Galra form completely. Lance stopped for a moment, then opted out of waking him up to tell him. They would figure everything out later, they had time to figure this out, and the others would help Keith deal with whatever pain he went through with his heritage. 

They had time.

For once, they had time to figure this out, and Lance would never turn away from his hurting friend again.

No, they were more than that. Keith was everything, and he would never make him deal with anything alone again, not if he needed someone to be by his side. Lance would be there to hold him and support him no matter what. It was time to stop running away from the feelings they had, and the pain they hid.

They had time, so it was time to face each other, and it was time to face themselves knowing that they were loved and supported no matter what happened.

Lance laid down, his arms around Keith as he nuzzled his nose against his neck.

The legendary defenders would be a whole again.

It would take work, but they could do it. 

All they had was time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My babies are so cute lol, not much plot in this chapter, but man, I had trouble writing this without blushing.  
> I'll try to update again really soon, life has just been getting busy lately, but I got this!!  
> Hope you enjoyed~  
> I'm on [tumblr](http://uniwhaletrash.tumblr.com/) if you want to chat :D


	15. Who We Are

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT NOTICE, PLEASE READ:
> 
> Hello, my friends!! So as November approaches I have found myself in a bit of a twist. NaNoWriMo is coming up and I regret to say that this fic is not what I'll be working on during that month. So with this chapter, Chapter 15, I'm going to announce this as the end of 'Part 1' of this fic. I'll pick it back up again in December once I've had some time to think about where this is going and when it should end. Ahhhhh it's been such a trip so far!!  
> Wish me luck as i delve into the long journey of trying to write a novel next month!  
> I have yet to start prepping.... whoops~

Keith woke up to quiet music playing through the room, lyrics blurred by his muddled mind and tired soul. He was warm at least, still curled up in Lance's coat, the bed around him still cozy with contained heat from both his body and where Lance had been sleeping the night before. Keith blinked slowly, staring down the pillow with a tired sigh. Lance must have gotten up, and that's why music was playing. 

At least the music was calming. It was quiet enough that it hadn't disturbed him in the slightest.

_"Losing him was blue like I'd never known..."_ Keith frowned, beginning to register the lyrics and the singer.

It wasn't Lance had a weird taste, but  _this?_

_'Missing him was dark gray all alone. Forgetting him was like trying to know somebody you never met'_

Keith sat up sluggishly. First Halsey, now another love song about colors.

_"But loving him was red,_  
_Oh, red,_  
_Burning red."_

_"_ Lance?" Keith called over the soft music. He could now tell that it was coming from the bathroom. 

"Yes, darling?" Lance replied sweetly, Keith could practically hear the smile in his voice.

"Are you playing  _Taylor Swift?"_

Lance poked his head out of the bathroom with a wide smile. "I decided to make it my personal mission to put together a  _huge_ playlist of cheesy love songs,"

Keith groaned. " _Why?_ "

"Just to get under your skin of course!" With that, Lance pulled back into the bathroom, Keith could hear as he sung along softly. Lance was an idiot.

So why couldn't he stop smiling?

Keith fell back into the blankets with a frustrated sigh, burying himself back into the warm coat. It smelled like Lance, the whole bed did, and it made it far easier to close his eyes and just picture the blue Paladin beside him. The feeling that grew in his chest every time Lance looked at him was unbearable, hot, and it made him positively  _ache_ for the other boy's affection. 

He could feel the heat in his face long after Lance had stopped kissing him the night before, and he had flushed again when Lance had curled into bed with him, pulling Keith back, against his chest before falling asleep with his nose pressed into Keith's hair. Lance had thought he was asleep, but he had laid awake for much longer, his heart pounding and his mind spinning.

It had been easy after enough time to lean into Lance's warmth and fall asleep, and one he had fallen asleep, he hadn't woken up at all for once.

Most nights he did not sleep so well, he always felt restless, because he was well aware that it was dangerous to settle into one place, he had no idea how long the ship would be his home, so it was much easier to remain distant and apathetic towards the home he was presented. 

Yet in Lance's arms, he hadn't felt restless or uncomfortable, it had been far too easy to fall asleep, and it had been even more shocking when he woke up in the morning unplagued by worry. 

Not too much later, Keith heard Lance leave the bathroom, likely done with his morning routine.

"Wake up, sleepy head," Lance said, sitting on the edge of the bed and shaking his shoulder gently.

Keith merely groaned in response. Lance sighed and flopped onto the bed next to him, wrapping an arm around Keith and pressing a light kiss against his forehead. Keith smiled shyly but leaned into those warm lips gratefully.

"Breakfast?" Lance asked after a long moment, pulling back to meet Keith's eyes.

Keith nodded in response

"You're not purple anymore..." Lance said gently, running his fingers through Keith's unruly hair with affection. Keith pulled away a bit to examine his hands and arms in shock. He stared at his hands for a long moment before nodding slowly.

"I guess this explains a lot..." Keith whispered, mostly to himself. Lance cocked his head in confusion, sitting up to watch his boyfriend with a frown.

"What do you mean?" Lance asked.

"I mean, I understand why I never knew my parents and why I never truly felt at home anywhere I went... I don't know, things I didn't understand on Earth are starting to come together now."

Lance didn't seem to know how to respond, instead, he merely leaned against Keith and breathed him in. "I'm really sorry, Keith... I should have been there, back at the garrison, before you dropped out... I could have been there for you."

"You didn't even know me that well, Lance."

"But I could have known you..."

Keith shook his head. "What's past is past, there's nothing we can change, there's nothing we  _should_ change. What matters is how we continue, and what how we grow." He didn't know how much he believed his own words. As he said them, he knew they were not his own, they were something he had been told a long time ago, and words that had stayed tucked deep into his soul, hidden in the folds of his fading will. Words that had kept him moving most days, as he said them, he felt warmth moving through him. He could move on despite the pain, despite what he was. He was not one of the Galra, he would not become his bloodline, he was the Red Paladin of Voltron, and he would move forward. 

They both fell silent for a good amount of time before Lance stood, pulling Keith up with him. "Breakfast?" He asked a bit sheepishly. Keith nodded in response. 

"What time is it even?" He asked.

"I don't know, late morning? I only woke up about ten minutes before you did."

Keith snorted. "Next time don't wake me up with your shitty music,"

" _Excuse you!_ T-Swift is a goddess."

Keith rolled his eyes but followed Keith out of the room, fingers still laced with Lance's. He smiled warmly and swallowed down the anxiety that was brewing in his stomach. He knew it was time for him to face himself and the others, he had to eventually, and what better time was there than the present. None of the team could possibly know what the future held or how long they would be fighting this war. It would be difficult to continue onward some days. They all missed their homes, their families, and their friends. It was hardly any motivation that they spent most days fighting against a threat that never seemed to diminish. Zarkon had been ruling over the universe for thousands of years now, yet here they were, five ragtag young adults from earth trying to defeat the impossible threat of The Galra empire.

Keith squeezed Lance's hand a bit tighter as they walked to the dining room. 

There was the very real possibility that they would not all make it out of the fight alive. They all knew that, of course, they did, but Keith constantly worried that they did not know precisely how great of a sacrifice they would need to make to truly win. 

This war would bring them to their knees before they were any closer to winning. If they were to win, they would have to wade through blood and live with the weight of their actions. It was not a situation that anyone of them should have been in, fighting a war in space while their families believed they were missing or likely even dead--and if they were to die up there, then who would even tell their loved ones? 

They were fighting a war where no one knew their names, only what they represented.

And what they represented was hope.

Hope for the future, a hope for peace and a hope for the suffering to finally cease.

That's what they held close to their hearts through every horribly long battle and every near-death experience. They were fighting for the greater good, and if they had to give themselves up in the process, it would be well worth it. 

Sitting around the table for breakfast with his fellow Paladins, Keith knew that they all were thinking the same thing, yet none of them brought it up, they rarely brought up the thought of possibly giving up or abandoning the war to other hands. That was not who they were.

They all knew what it would take as soon as they had put that armor on and bonded with their lions, they all had known that this war could take everything, and they still might not win. 

But that's what it took to be a Paladin of Voltron, the ability to act even through their fears, the bravery of warriors ran through their veins. 

Keith looked at his fellow Paladins fondly. 

Their bravery, their loyalty, and their sacrifice was what made them the beacon of hope that they were.

They all knew in their hearts what it would take to emerge victorious.

Together, they stood knowing the cost, yet they did not back down. Whatever the universe threw at them, they would take.

They were here to fight, and that was what it would take to win a war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty my dudes, I really hope you have enjoyed the first half of To Win A War, I'll see you all again in December once the NaNo craze has passed! ;) Please leave feedback/any ideas you might have for the second half, I'm always up for making my writing better ;D
> 
> Cool beans, peace out my dudes!
> 
> I'm on [tumblr](http://uniwhaletrash.tumblr.com/) so hmu!!


	16. Home is Where He is

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yoyoyo just a warning there will be descriptions of nightmares and anxiety in this chapter as well as descriptions of the torture that Keith went through a few(?) chapters back.
> 
> If this is triggering to you feel free to stop reading at the break, it starts with "Keith jerked awake" and pick up again at "Do you want to talk about it?" because it's pretty much over by then.
> 
> Enjoy~

Lance pulled Keith behind him towards the dining room, the were both still somewhat dragged down by sleepiness, but Keith managed to push it aside to watch the tall boy pulling him along fondly. They still had much to face, and it was likely that it would take years to bring down the Galra and restore the universe to peace. Even if the Galra were defeated, there would always be threats, but Keith was thankful to say that he could face them with the person he truly wanted to face the universe with, Lance.

He had known before Voltron that he found Lance incredibly attractive and had tried not to stare _too_ often, hell, Lance declaring them rivals was the closest Keith would have ever dared to get back then.

Yet now, everything was so different. They had been to hell and back, and they had done it as a team, and if he would have known that he would be tossed into the depths of space and fall in love with Lance (hell, even the fact that the feelings were mutual, dear stars he might never recover) he would have never believed it before it happened. Yet here he was, hand in hand with a boy he had convinced himself he'd never have.

It was enough to stop him dead in the hallway, and Lance paused for a moment, looking over with a concerned frown.

"You okay?" Lance asked.

Keith nodded slowly. “Just trying to process everything that's happened I guess.”

Lance stepped forward, gently slipping a hand into Keith's hair and placing a small, ghost of a kiss against his lips. A light blush dusted Keith's pale cheeks, and as Lance pulled away, he smirked devilishly.

“Better?” He asked.

Keith rolled his eyes. “With that sad excuse of a kiss? How could I be better?”

“You're so dramatic,”

“Really? Coming from you? The king of dramatics?”

Lance snorted before nipping gently at Keith before pulling him along, continuing towards the dining room. He still hadn’t been able to face any of the other Paladins yet, but he assumed that either Lance or Pidge had brought them up to date on his situation. He tried to tell himself that they would understand, that he would be fine as he approached closely behind Lance. The last thing he needed was to be thrown about by yet another family.

Yet, it explained so much knowing that he was a half-breed alien, it explained why he had been alone for so long.

When the door slid open, the conversation within halted and Keith felt his chest tighten up and panic rise in his throat.

"Hey Keith, how are you feeling?" Hunk asked, almost immediately, he was setting something on the table that he had likely cooked himself and it smelled _really_ good.

"Uh... Fine, I guess," Keith responded. He noticed that neither Shiro nor Allura had made their way to the dining room yet. They would understand, he just had to keep telling himself that.

 _How could they accept you?_ The voice in his head chided, and it sounded suspiciously like the one he had heard for all of those hours while he was trapped in the Galra prison, strapped to that table so tightly that he couldn't move. He tried to push it away.

 _How could they accept you, the blood of those who killed almost everyone important to you runs strong through your_ veins. The voice whispered. _The Alteans will resent you, even if they hide it well. And the Champion--_

Keith managed to shake the voice away abruptly as he focused on his hand that was still intertwined with Lance's. If anything, the other boy would keep him anchored, for right then at least, and he would hold as tightly as he needed to until he felt okay again.

Pidge had stood as soon as the door had opened and was looking over at Keith, eyes tired and shoulders sagged.

She yawned, shuffling over to give Keith a long, tight hug.

“I'm glad you came back,” she murmured softly.

Keith nodded in agreement, looking over at Lance for a moment, as if to thank him for not giving up on him. “Me too…”

A moment later, without much warning, Pidge jabbed her fist into Keith's side, making him flinch away violently.

“That's for scaring me shitless, dipshit.” She said flatly. “I can guarantee next time you do something idiotic like running, it'll be far, far worse.” With that, she turned, bumping Hunk’s fist on her way back to the table as both Lance and Hunk cackled mercilessly.

“Not cool,” Keith muttered, rubbing his side, he was sure that her tiny fist would leave a painful bruise, which had likely been her intention from the start.

"There's a price that must be paid for idiocy," Pidge shrugged, sitting down at the table. "Where the hell are Shiro and Allura?"

"Probably off being gross somewhere," Lance said with a gagging motion.

"Says you, lover boy," Pidge retorted, eyeing Keith. "You two got it going on now too huh? Finally, I thought I'd go insane from all of the secret looks and blushing that's gone on around here since we left Earth, dear stars, if you two _hadn't_ started making out--"

"I'm going to stop you right there," Said another voice, Shiro, who had just entered the room, followed by Allura. They both looked _slightly_ dishelved themselves, but no one was about to point it out for fear of the wrath they might receive. Though, Pidge snickered to herself before electing to completely _ignore_ Shiro's interruption.

" _As I was saying:_ If you two _hadn't_ figured out that you _desperately_ wanted each other--"

"Pidge!"

"Oh, c'mon Shiro! They even have to color scheme down, they're finally making a bit of purple--if you catch my drift--"

" _Pidge, enough!"_ Shiro sounded beyond exasperated, his tone becoming rather dad-like™.

Keith couldn't help but smile a little bit, feeling warm as he watched his friends interact. That was right, they were all friends, and his blood wasn't going to change that. Instead, if anything his bond with his teammates should grow. There were no secrets between them anymore, and even if Keith hadn’t even known himself about it, if the other’s knew exactly who he was, it would become even more natural to trust him, even if he was a half-breed.

 _They could never love you, not like this_.

That voice was wrong, it had to be wrong, because the people around him were looking at him with nothing but the purest love of any family. They hadn’t even brought it up yet, and it didn’t seem like they would bring it up for the time being.

“Come on,” Lance said warmly, tugging Keith to the table to sit down.

“It’s been quite a week,” Allura said with a soft laugh that was like music.

Coran took that moment to launch into a story from his past about _another_ long and crazy week he had that Keith could barely follow with all of the words that were unrecognizable to most of the human Paladins who nodded along politely.

Instead, Keith took the time to breathe that moment of peace in,

He wanted to hold onto it forever.

~

Keith jerked awake, terror clawing it’s way up his throat and his lungs feeling tight. He’s covered in sweat and panting, trying to catch his breath. His breathing quick and labored, something within his chest tightening and constricting.

He was shaking and he realized that after a moment that there are tears streaming down his face. It was hard to catch his breath through the pain in his chest and the sharp sobs that rose in his throat.

Dear stars, he hadn’t asked for this, he hadn’t asked for any of this.

Keith sat up quickly, untangling himself from the sheets that felt oddly like the bonds that had so effectively held him down on that table in the Galra prison. Shivering uncontrollably, he curled up against the wall, breathing hard as tears blurred his vision. Everything had been so vivid in the dream, and he swore that he could feel the pain racking his body from when they had hurt him, looking for answers.

Keith knew it wouldn’t help to think about it, but his chest continued to tighten the longer he sat leaning against that wall, desperately searching for something to anchor him. He was shaking violently by the time he managed to pick himself up and stumble out of bed.

 _Shit,_ Keith thought as he almost tripped over himself. He regretted not deciding to just simply stay with Lance again that night, he had wanted a bit of time to himself that was for sure, but he hadn’t expected this to happen, he hadn’t expected to wake up feeling so _helpless_ and terrified.

He felt like he could puke. Shivering, he made his way out of his room, hoping desperately that Lance would be awake or hadn’t locked the door.

God, he felt weak.

_You are weak, half-breed._

He shook his head, managing to make it to Lance’s door.

_He doesn’t care about you,_

Keith hesitated, raising his arm to knock, but then noticing the darkness of the hallways and the lack of the usual chatter of the late night when Pidge was still on her laptop or Hunk was looking for a late night snack, no it was completely silent in the castle.

 _It’s really late…_ Keith thought, his hand shaking in air.

He knocked softly, cringing at how loud it sounded, and the panic that rose within him as he did so, it wasn’t Lance’s issue, he had no obligation to take care of Keith or to watch out for him, Keith _should_ have been able to deal--

The door opened in an instant, and Lance, though he looked sleepy, also looked slightly alarmed.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” He asked instantly, stepping forward to set his hand on Keith’s shoulder.

His voice was stuck in his throat as he swallowed the lump of anxiety down. It became very clear that he was still shaking and hadn’t bothered to wipe the tears from his face. Lance seemed to notice too, reaching forward to gently wipe away the tears.

Keith let out a harsh breath and stepped into Lance’s arms, gripping him tightly. “Sorry… I just… bad dream.” Keith whispered weakly. Lance nodded into his hair, returning Keith’s tight hug.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Images of the nightmare filled his mind and Keith clenched the back of Lance’s shirt tightly. Lance managed to move Keith into his room and close the door as the other boy curled into himself. “Hey, hey, look at me, buddy,” Lance whispered, brushing the back of his hand along Keith’s jaw. Another deep breath and Keith looked up, meeting his eyes. “Are you okay?”

“When am I ever?” Keith managed to croak out, a small, pained smile on his lips. It faltered in an instant and disappeared as he felt himself shivering again.

“How can I help?”

“I don’t know,”

Lance slipped an arm around Keith’s waist and simply held him close. Keith leaned into that hold, he breathed the other boy in and held him as tightly as he could.

If anything, he just needed Lance to be there, and to not let him go.

After a long moment of silence, Lance began to hum softly, swaying gently with Keith in his arms. He had his other hand in Keith’s hair and his jaw resting gently against the side of Keith’s head, which was now buried in Lance’s shoulder, his arms holding onto Lance like he was the only thing that Keith could trust to not slip out from under him.

“I think I'm falling in love with you,” Lance whispered gently.

Keith leaned closer. “It's mutual,” he said softly, feeling the other boy's hands begin to roam his back, feeling along his spine, to a level, it was calming.

Keith looked up to meet Lance’s eyes, his own tired and rimmed red. “Thank you,” Keith said.

Lance smirked, it was his normal smirk, but god, it was so warm and genuine and all for Keith.

A soft, warm kiss was pressed into his lips.

“Anytime, babe,” Lance whispered.

Keith fell back against Lance's shoulder, his hand pressing into Lance’s back so they were just as close again, and he closed his eyes, his heart-rate had finally slowed to a normal-ish speed.

This was what he needed, warm kisses in the dead of night and comfort given from someone who wouldn't hesitate to fight away the fear and doubt that plagued his mind.

When they tripped over each other, toppling to the floor, Lance over him and staring down at Keith like he was the entire universe, he knew that he had found that person, and even though there was still a certain tightness in his chest, he knew he was going to be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyO
> 
> IM BACK  
> HERE TO CAUSE MORE ANGST AND DISTRESS  
> (NOW INCLUDING FLUFF, BUY IT NOW FOR A UNCOUNTABLE SUM OF MONEY, IT'S LITERALLY PRICELESS)
> 
> *awkward cough* you may have noticed that there's a certain amount of chapters planned now... 
> 
> just wanted to give you another few thousand words of this fic and tell you that I'm back to working on this doozy (along with the other two Voltron fics I'm currently writing as well... *cough* you should check them out *cough*)
> 
> if you guys wanna hit me up and chat @siruniwhale.tumblr.com is the place to be ;)
> 
> Also, the last five chapters are gonna go quick, I'm hoping to finish this up over Winter break


	17. We Need a Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> they need a plan, just like I need a plan to fucking finish this fic

After that night, Lance and Keith didn't even bother trying to keep apart from each other. Most nights they would go back to Lance's room together and talk, cuddle, make out, all three of those things happened on a regular night before curling up and falling asleep together. The days at the castle were spent training again as a team and running countless test drills in case of emergency.

Weeks passed in this manner, and it was easy enough to fall back into the pattern.

Regarding the fact that Keith had recently discovered his alien heritage went pretty much unquestioned. No one blamed him for it, and the best thing they could do was figure out exactly what ran in his DNA, so on certain afternoons, he would disappear with Pidge who did small blood tests and used the technology around her to analyze whatever she could.

It became clear not much later that what the Galra had said about him being a half-breed was true, split right down the middle, half-Galra, half-human. At first, Keith had trouble accepting it, but it explained a lot. He had never known his parents, and it was because of his blood, he had always been cast out because of his blood, and he had never found a place to belong because of it. Until now, because the Paladins simply pulled him closer every time he tried to pull away.

He was the Red Paladin of Voltron, he was alien and human, and he was more simply he was Keith.

Every time he questioned who he was, he had everyone around him to pull him back, and for once in his life, he knew that he could call this place home and that the people there were his family no matter what. He could live with that, he could go on with them until the end. He would fight this war alongside them, and he would be there when they all finally went back home.

Even if going back home meant he would lose everything he had gained as a paladin, he would gladly see the cause through until the end.

~

"We need a plan," Allura started that night around the table where they all dined. After everyone had looked over, giving her their attention, she continued. "Every day, Zarkon continues to gather forces against us, and every day they continue to spread across the universe. Soon, attacks on the planets we love, or have taken back will be inevitable. The Galra will try to defeat us in any way they see necessary, and that means they will most definitely begin to play dirty. We need to cut them off before they can do that. The only way to win this war is to cut off the head,"

"We need to kill Zarkon," Pidge said slowly, her eyes were wide. Keith swallowed. A plan they would need indeed.

"What do you propose?" Shiro asked, leaning back in his chair, arms crossed.

"There's no way to get close enough to Zarkon without delving deep into the Galra forces. The Galra empire is vast, and to make it in, we'll have to use our wits," Coran started, pulling up a large hologram, to show where they were and the places that the Galra had taken. The universe itself was unfathomably large, and yet, as far as the Paladins could see, the Galra controlled at least three-fourths of it.

The odds were terrifying, they were vastly outnumbered, and as hard as they had been working to free the universe, their allies were not strong enough to provide aid to the paladins in their fight.

Keith stared at the hologram, dread flooding through him. It was suicide to attack the Galra head on. They would need allies, resources, and an utterly foolproof plan to even have a chance at making a difference.

“Is there anyone but us fighting against the empire?” Keith asked weakly. “We might have Voltron on our side, but we can’t do this alone.”

“There've been rumors of rebel groups, but they’re virtually impossible to track down,” Allura responded, her eyes following movements on the hologram carefully.

Keith frowned. “Then we send out a distress signal, a call to arms to anyone who would willingly fight beside Voltron. If we get this right, we could take out Zarkon once and for all.”

“Who’s to say that the Galra won’t simply regroup and continue Zarkon’s work?” Lance asked softly. “There so spread out through the universe, even if we cut the head off of the snake, who’s to say that two more won’t grow?”

“There’s no way to know what will happen,” Allura said. “But we won’t know until we’ve tried, perhaps taking down Zarkon will simply be another battle won in this war, or maybe it will end the war altogether, we have to take any actions that we can  even if there is even the  _ slightest  _ chance of leaving behind better chances than we started with.”

The group nodded in agreement.

“Okay…” Lance started slowly. “I might have a plan,”

~

Sometimes the group doubted Lance, and he knew that. He had had plenty of ideas in the past that Shiro hadn't even really considered, and not that Lance would ever blame Shiro for that (being a leader was hard, he understood) it kinda hurt

So he felt kinda nervous with how intently his friends had been listening to his idea with no interruptions so far. He managed to keep his voice steady and his ideas straight. As much as he messed up, Keith was by his side, reminding him that they were all patient, and they weren't going to shoot down his plan. So far, it was the only plan they had.

"This plan would take a lot of work," Allura started slowly once Lance had finished. "And it would require us to bring together otherwise disunified races,"

"But what else could we possibly do?" Keith started, "This is the best plan we have."

"An attack on us is inevitable wherever we go," Shiro shot back. "If there are rebels out there, do we really want to risk their lives by bringing them together?"

"If we don't fight together now, then when will we?" Pidge asked. "I'm with Lance on this one, it's our best shot to defeat Zarkon once and for all,"

"If we take out Zarkon, what's stopping the Galra empire from replacing him with someone else?" Hunk asked. "There could be an entire  _ line _ of possible rulers!"

"One step at a time, paladins," Coran said. The group nodded slowly. 

"Okay..." Shiro started. "But how are we supposed to gather the rebels?"

"We could easily send out messages to the rebel groups... if we could locate them," Allura said, a bit dispiritedly. "Unless we can track them down, we don't know who is a possible ally and who might be a threat."

The group fell silent around the table. "We can't go in on this alone," Keith started slowly, "There's just no way that the seven of us can beat the entire Galra empire in one blow,"

"Who says it needs to be one blow?" Pidge asked. "Sure, the sooner the better, but there are other ways to do this." She stood up to move around the table where Allura had pulled up a holographic map. "Say we hit them in the places they're weak first, such as some of these outlying bases. We can gather allies as we take out the weaker spots and piss off the empire at the same time. If we manage to find the right individuals amongst these bases, they might have ways to contact the larger rebel groups that are hiding throughout the universe... so we give them a date, and a meeting spot, and once we've crushed as many Galra bases as we can, we rally our rebel allies and go in for the final blow,"

The group nodded. "Okay, so we need to figure out a place where the Galra won't touch to meet, somewhere we know is no use to them," Shiro said.

"I'll figure something out," Allura put in. "For now, let's prepare to attack the bases. They cannot know what our plan is or where we will hit next, so which places we selcet must be entirely random."

"We could number them and role a dice," Lance suggested.

"A what?"

"Oh, a dice is like a little cube with six sides, and it's numbered. Back home there were all sorts of dice, like some had twenty sides, some had twelve, so on and so forth."

"Where are we going to find dice?" Hunk asked. "It's not like we're going to teleport home just to grab your d&d dice pouch,"

"No need," Pidge said, "I brought mine, it's in my room,"

Hunk snickered. "You just happened to have your dice pouch on you when we went to rescue Shiro that night?"

"Sure did," 

"Amazing,"

“Alright, so we number them, and every attack is based on the role of one of Pidge’s amazing dice,” Lance said. “That way it will be entirely random where we attack.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Keith said. 

“Ditto,”

“Then let’s do this,” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmAO i planned to finish this b4 season 2 but then like a lot happened and I had to work on my bb fic and tbh sweet sensations in kinda the fic that's taken over my life, but imma still finish this I promise
> 
> (Also SORRY THIS IS SO SHORT IT'S REALLY HARD TO FIND INSPIRATION FOR THIS AND I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT I HAD PLANNED, SO I'M REAL SORRY)


	18. To Win A War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *the final countdown plays in the background*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yooooo this is it, my friends, I wrote out the rest of this on a whim today, so I hope you enjoy~  
> (Now that I finished can I post that other fic, Breeze?)

Weeks passed as the gang attacked the Galra bases all while freeing any prisoners and rebels that they could. They spread the message of a gathering being held and encouraged that the message was passed on for the sake of the universe. Voltron could only do so much damage without a plan and the support of others. The gang managed to keep the Galra forces on their toes by simply never attacking in any discernable pattern. The dice were rather handy when it came to keeping it random, and even if the Galra suspected what they were doing, it was never clear enough for them to do anything about the paladins wreaking havoc on them.

Before they even knew it, there were only three places left to attack, the first one went rather well, the Paladins even managed to gain some Galra allies through the attacks and rescues of any prisoner that was being held.

When it came down to only having two bases left to attack, the crew had to make the decision whether or not it was too risky to go in. The Galra forces could easily supply both of those places with reinforcements which would make the Paladin’s jobs all the more difficult, or they could leave those two bases untouched and free them once the Empire was under their control.

Once Zarkon was put in the ground once and for all.

“One more,” Pidge argued. “We need as many allies as possible, so I say we hit one more,”

“Pidge, I know you’re hoping that Matt will be in one of these camps but--”

“Shiro, this isn’t just about Matt or my father anymore, if either of them are still out there I  _ will _ find them, but for now this is about freeing as many peoples as possible from the Galra, I know you understand, we can’t just leave them there if we have the chance of freeing them before our initial attack.” Their voice was cool and determined. Shiro sighed and nodded in agreeance.

“One more, then we rally our forces,”

“Agreed,”

~

‘One more’ turned out to be a bit more difficult than they had initially planned. Sure, the crew had been expecting more resistance, but the Galra weren’t taking any chances. They had sent more reinforcements than were probably necessary, and as soon as the worm hole spit out the castle ship, Voltron leading the ship into battle, they were fired upon almost immediately.

The battle was long and grueling, but they wouldn’t be the Paladins of Voltron if they gave up that easily, so they fought, and eventually, even when all hope seemed lost, they won.

Another battle towards winning the war.

It was quick work after that to free the prisoners and escape the crumbling rock they left in their wake. The Galra, as hard as they had fought, hadn’t even stood a chance against the Paladins.

That night, the ship was headed towards the coordinates that they had sent out to any possible allies, and the Paladin’s had a quiet meal and all headed back to their rooms. If they were to be at their best for the final battle, they needed as much rest as they could possibly get, seeing that over the past few days rest had been far too little and far too spread between attacks on the Galra bases.

After the meal, Keith and Lance slipped off to Lance’s room quietly, hand-in-hand, ready for a good night of sleep. As little as rest time had been for the paladins, alone time had been even harder to find, so the two of them were eternally thankful for the bit of time that they had, even if the next day they would go back to being leaders--paladins that the entire universe had staked their hopes on. It was rather stressful sometimes, to know that the entire universe was watching, that if they messed up too badly, it wouldn’t just affect the seven of them, it would affect the lives of so many more.

Lance squeezed Keith’s hand tightly, bringing him back to reality. It hadn’t even felt like that long ago since Lance had been chasing after him with the promise that he wasn’t going to leave Keith behind, Galra blood or not, Keith was a Paladin of Voltron, and that was all that had ever mattered.

They got ready for bed slowly, brushing their teeth, poking at each other playfully, and eventually kissing on their way back to Lance’s bed. Keith really loved the feeling of having that boy so close. They fell into the bed and almost immediately broke the kiss, laughing too hard to continue. Their was so much weight sitting on their shoulders, but when they were together, everything just felt so much lighter, like it would all work out no matter what.

They had fought, they’d seen countless deaths, they had killed, and all for this, for the hope that maybe the universe would right itself again, that if their was blood now, it would cease later, that maybe their was hope for peace again.

Keith sighed, leaning into Lance and resting his head against the crook of his boyfriend’s neck. Lance stroked his hair absently, just as lost in his head as Keith had been. It was unsettling to think that this could all be over in the next week. That once the Galra empire was neutralized, Voltron might not be needed anymore.

“Lance?” Keith started, half wondering if Lance was even still awake.

“Yeah?” Lance responded softly, hand stilling in Keith’s hair.

“What do we do once this is all over? When the universe no longer needs Voltron?”

Lance was silent for a long moment, thinking. “Will the universe ever stop needing a peace maker?”

“I don’t know, but if it does, what happens next?”

“Well… I think we go home, and wait. We spend as much time with our loved ones as we can before the universe is pulling us away again to fight another battle so others might live another day. We go home, and we wait,”

Keith pondered it for a moment, holding Lance tighter. “If we go back, will we even see each other anymore? I know you want to go home to your family and all, and that’s totally valid, but, it won’t be the same without you around all the time, you know?”

“You could come with me,” Lance said.

“What?”

“I know you don’t have anyone back home to go to, so you could just come home with me? I mean, if you wanted to, my family would love to meet you, and they wouldn’t mind you staying with us, they’re pretty great like that,”

Keith sat up, looking down at Lance with a small, tentative smile. “You mean it?”

“Of course,” Lance said, leaning forward to wrap his arms around Keith’s waist and kiss his nose. “I can’t just leave my favorite alien boy behind, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I did that?”

“You’re ridiculous,”

“But you love meeee!”

Keith smiled, leaning in for a short, sweet kiss. “Yeah, I really do,”

~

Morning came far too quickly. Keith and Lance had to detangle from their bed tiredly and make their way to the control room in a disgruntled manner. Sure, sleep had been nice, but goddamn, they could sure use more.

The other’s didn’t seem to be in any better shape, let alone any more cheerful, so it wasn’t just the two boys who wanted more rest.

“Once we defeat Zarkon, I’m going to sleep for two million light years,” Pidge yawned, making their way over to their seat. “When do we arrive?”

“In roughly one varga,” Coran responded, “So time for you five to get something to eat and suit up before you’ll have to greet your rebel allies!”

He sounded much more enthusiastic about that than the Paladin’s felt, but they nodded nonetheless and went to go eat their daily food goo.

“When this is all over, I’m going back to earth for some mac and cheese or something,” Pidge said.

“And donuts,” Hunk put in.

“I want a cheeseburger, who do I need to kill to get my hands on a bacon cheeseburger,” Lance asked tiredly.

Keith snickered. “Bagels and coffee sound  _ really _ good about now,”

“Pie,” Was all Shiro said. Then, with wistful sighs around the table, they downed the food goo like the champs they were and headed off to get suited up in their armor.

Once the five paladins were all suited up, they headed out to the control room to wait. They could see that they were getting close, and Coran turned on the invisibility shield that Pidge had helped him install a few weeks ago--it really tended to come in handy.

“Alright, helmets on, we need to be able to communicate amongst ourselves if anything goes wrong. Go to your Lions, the ship will follow behind us.” Shiro ordered, everyone nodded and headed off to their Lions.

Keith was the first one out, waiting for the others to follow him. A moment later Blue flew out to join him, doing a barrel role and coming up to float next to him.

“Showoff,” Keith muttered to himself. He could hear Lance chuckling through their communicator.

“Show me your moves, Keithy-Boy,” Lance cooed at him. Keith rolled his eyes before making red do a somersault with no effort. Lance chuckled. The other three lions joined them a moment later, and they were flying towards the uninhabited planet. It was supposedly a dry, desert-like planet, there was a large oasis that Allura had directed the rebel forces towards, in case they got there days before the paladins, they would need water and the fruit that grew there. The Lions flew towards the oasis, landing just next to it with their Lions. The castle ship came in not far behind them.

“Should we activate invisibility on our Lions?” Pidge asked.

“Not yet,” Shiro said. “We need them to see our Lions so they know that it’s us and that we come in peace.”

“So do we get out, or make an announcement?”

“Let’s leave the lions here and head into the oasis on foot.”

“Roger that, captain,” Lance joked.

The sand felt weird below Keith’s feet as he stepped out of his lion. Sure, he had lived in desert back on earth, but it had been so long since he’d touched sand. It made him weirdly nostalgic. Lance was by his side an instant later, bumping his shoulder.

“You good?” He asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Keith replied. “Lead the way, Shiro,”

They were joined by Allura and Coran a moment later before they stepped into the oasis. It was silent, and as they stepped in everything felt off. It was terrifying how quiet the place was.

“Keep a watch on all sides,” Shiro whispered. “If the Galra caught scent of our plan, all is lost if we die here,”

The Paladins readied their Bayards, watching all around for any sign of an enemy ambush. There were no sounds, no clue that life had ever been in this place.

“What if no one came,” Lance asked, his voice slightly panicked.

“Then we’ll figure something else out, for now, just keep your guard up,” Shiro said back.

Allura stepped ahead of the group, looking around, her brows furrowed. “There’s energy in this place, all foreign to this planet. There’s no doubt that we are not alone, but who is hiding here is what we’ll have to find out,”

“Ummm,  _ WE COME IN PEACE!” _ Pidge suddenly yelled, making everyone jump. “Might as well bring them to us, right?”

“Pidge! WHat, Noooo,” Hunk started. “What if they’re bad? What if they’re hungry? WHAT IF THEY EAT PEOPLE?”

“Guys,  _ shut up _ ,” Keith bit out. Someone ahead stepped out of the bushes, black and purple armor adorning his body, and a helmet obscuring his face.

Allura stepped forward to meet him. “I am Princess Allura of Altea, and these are the Paladins of Voltron, we come here in search of Allies against our common enemy.”

The alien nodded, reaching to remove his helmet. White hair tumbled out and purple skin shone. His smile was deadly as he held his hand out to meet Allura’s. Her eyes widened a bit. Sure, she was aware that they had Galra allies, but this?

“My allies call me L, leader of this rebel force,” The Galran said, Allura reached out to clasp his hand, something dark and dangerous in her eyes.

“Where are the rest of your unit?” Allura asked, her eyes flickering around her surroundings.

“We have gathered around the center of the Oasis, I’ll lead you to them,” L responded, he took a look at the Paladins that followed Allura and nodded. “Follow me,”

They followed without a word, not quite ready to discard their Bayards yet. Allura walked in step with L, not letting herself fall behind him in any way. She was smart, no one knew quite what to expect from him yet. If a Galra was the head of the rebels, then how many others had joined their cause?

This could go incredibly well, or it might turn out that they weren’t well equipped enough to lead this fight effectively.

Keith shook his head, they’d figure this out, the universe depended on it.

They reached the center of the oasis and were almost blown away by what they found.

There were hundreds of rebels milling around, stolen fighter ships hidden amongst the trees, and tents set up all around for shelter. Keith felt the tiniest spark of hope at that, their plan was all coming together. Lance grabbed Keith's hand and smiled brightly at him. 

This was going to work.

The rebels fell silent as L lead Allura, Coran, and the Paladins into the camp. There was whispering between them and some stares of disbelief. As if they hadn't been sure that they would even come. Allura stepped forward.

"Greetings," She called out. "We are here on behalf of Voltron and our plan to free the universe once and for all,"

The silence turned into excited cheering, a few rebels rushed over to thank Allura and get a better look at the Paladins. Next to him, Keith heard Pidge gasp in excitement, dismissing their Bayard and quickly shrugging off her helmet.

" _ Matt?!" _ She called out, her voice strangled with excitement. One of the rebels turned around at the sound of his name, finding Pidge amongst the Paladins. His eyes lit up in disbelief, and a moment later the Holts were running to each other and embracing. Reunited at last. 

"Katie, oh my god!" He cried. "What the fuck, how did you--oh my god Shiro too? What the hell," He couldn't stop the tears from flooding down his face. "I've missed you so much,"

"I've been looking everywhere for you," Pidge sobbed. "Where's dad? Is he okay?"

"He's alive," Matt said, "Not here, we brought some of the others to a safe hold and dad can't walk very well, but he'll be fine."

Pidge nodded, sniffling a bit as they stepped away. "I just, can't believe your here, thank god," 

Matt smiled weakly, keeping an arm around his sister as they walked back to the other paladins. Shiro smiled widely, going to embrace his friend. "Glad you're okay, buddy," 

"You look worse for wear," Matt commented. Shiro rolled his eyes. 

"First of all: rude."

The rest of the paladins introduced themselves to Matt and they shared a few laughs before Allura was whisking them off after L to meet the rest of the rebels and start to explain their plan. L directed them to a larger tent towards the center of the camp where he had maps laid out and some of his trusted rebels were in the room. Matt followed along, smiling sheepishly at L as he latched onto Pidge's arm. They had just reunited, there was no way in hell that he was going to let go now.

Once Allura had fished out the maps she needed, she started to explain what the Paladins had planned, and as dangerous as it sounded, in the end L agreed that it was a good plan. After that, he dismissed them to an extra tent and asked them to mingle with the rebels so they knew exactly who they were following into battle. 

Keith watched the rest of the Paladins leave the tent and waved Lance to follow them while he stayed behind. He was curious about L. Sure, Keith himself was Galra, and he had plenty of reasons to go against Zarkon, but what were L's motivations? He walked towards the table, looking over the map again where their troops were set up on all of the vantage points that Allura had pointed out.

"Can I help you, Paladin?" L asked. Keith nodded.

"Uh call me Keith," He said, offering his hands to shake L's. L frowned a bit as they touched.

"You're not human?" He asked. 

"Partially, but not entirely," Keith replied. "I'm half-Galra,"

L nodded, turning back to the map. "So we are not that different then,"

"I guess," Keith frowned as he looked at the map. "Why are you in this? Against Zarkon I mean,"

L smiled, it was an angry, bitter sort of smile as he met Keith's eyes with his blazing yellow ones. "Zarkon made sure that my mother died a long, painful death, I think that's motivation enough,"

"I mean no offense, but I feel like there's more?"

L nodded. "We all have our reasons, do we not?" Keith shrugged.

"I suppose," 

"Why, red paladin? Do you fear that I might betray you? Are you as against us as the rest?"

"Not at all," Keith replied. "All I want is for this to work and for as little casualties to come out of this battle as possible,"

"Can you really guarantee peace if Zarkon is defeated? The Galra will panic," 

"They'll need a leader," Keith whispered, "Someone who isn't afraid to keep the peace,"

"Who do you suppose?" L asked mockingly. Keith frowned.

"We'll figure it out," Keith said solemnly. 

L smirked. "Of course," Keith nodded and turned to leave. "Just know, not everything is so neat and clean in war, so do not expect this to go so smoothly."

Keith didn't bother to reply as he left. He looked around the camp, a sigh escaping him. This had to work, they could deal with aftermath once Zarkon was dead.

~

The day that they were to launch the attack drew nearer and nearer. The Paladins grew restless as the preparations came to an end, and all there was to do was wait. Keith and Lance had walked around a number of times to find corners to be alone for awhile, just to enjoy each other's presences and warmth before the time came for the battle. There was no way any them could die, the others wouldn't allow it, but it was still terrifying to even consider the prospect of losing each other.

Then, the day came, and they were all hugging and getting ready to embark on this mission. Warships had been updated and remodeled, weapons had been distributed, and orders had gone out. Everyone was willing to risk their lives for the chance that just  _ maybe _ this would leave the universe better than it had been before.

They listened as Allura gave a great speech about this fight before ordering their allies to head out. The moment of truth was that day, they would either emerge victorious or dead, so it was a stretch. 

The wormhole opened and they were flying, it was terrifying to know that it might all end today, Keith felt slightly sick, knowing that their plan would throw he and Lance straight into the heart of danger.

It would be worth it once the universe was at peace.

“Form Voltron!” Shiro called through the communicator. The five Paladins came together and formed Voltron as they traveled through the wormhole, leading their fleet forward.

Then they were there, in the heart of the Galra fleet.

The attacks went out, their rebels attacking the ships that were automatically on their tails. Voltron dove straight towards the mothership, blasting smaller fighters out of the sky. When they were close enough, Voltron detached and Keith and Lance flew towards the ship while the other fighters were distracted. 

“Moment of truth, buddy,” Lance said through the communicator. Keith nodded, focusing as he changed his appearance. That’s what he had been working on over the past weeks, learning how to control his Galra form.

Allura had shared with him how she shifted between Altean forms and whatever else she needed. Intense concentration and power. He had managed to master it rather quickly. Now, needing to blend in, Keith shifted. L had lent him some Galra armor, and was going to meet them inside.

They opened the ship and slipped out of their lions, send the lions back into battle on autopilot. Keith and Lance made their way into the Galra ship, Keith gripping Lance’s arm tightly.

“Remember the plan,” Keith whispered to Lance as they began to walk through the hall, Lance struggling lightly against Keith’s grip. “L is just around the corner,”

They walked forward, taking a right to find another Galra soldier, are crossed, waiting for them.

“You made it,” L grinned.

“Of course we did,” Keith snapped back. “Now let’s go,”

L grabbed Lance’s other arm and started dragging him towards the direction of the throne room. “Now, Lance, you must  _ convince _ them that you are a traitor to Voltron, you came here because you care only about your own life, and you are ready to bargain for a way out,”

“I know,” Lance whispered. “ _ Unhand me!”  _ He growled, suddenly an entirely different person showing through. “I come with information to defeat them!”

They reached the throne room and two guards stepped forward, ordering them to halt. Keith and Lance stiffened a bit as they approached. “What is your business here,” One of the guards asked. 

“We found this one sneaking in!,” L said, quite grandly. “He claims to have information about this attack, personally, I think he’s a bug,”

The guard moved forward to inspect Lance. “Why would a paladin bargain with us?”

Lance laughed, fear evident in his voice. “Voltron does not stand a chance, our troops are untrained and unprepared, and I for one, would like to walk away from this  _ alive _ .”

“You’d betray your fellow paladins?”

“Wouldn’t you?” Lance asked.

“The druid will get the truth out of him,” The other guard said. “You may enter.”

L nodded, signaling for Keith to drag Lance through the doors. The most terrifying part was this, walking in to find Zarkon, in the flesh, sitting on his throne as his druid talked rapidly to him about what to do next. They fell silent as the two supposed Galra soldiers dragged the Blue paladin in.

“Vrepit Sa,” L proclaimed. “The Paladin would bargain for his life in return for information against the enemy.”

Zarkon’s eyes immediately narrowed. “Is it not a little late for that?”

“That’s why we request that the Druid seek the truth,” L replied easily.

The Druid took a step forward. “They lie, all of the--” Before the druid could finish, a blast of energy struck her in the chest from Lance’s bayard. He quickly turned to shoot the guards at the door before standing guard while he left Keith and L to take care of Zarkon.

Zarkon laughed. “You really believe you can defeat me?”

“Bring it on, dickhead,” Keith replied easily, calling upon his Bayard. L held up a hand, drawing his own sword and discarding his helmet. Zarkon immediately paused as L stepped forward. 

“I think it’s time we had a little talk,” L said, smiled growing.

“Lotor, what is this?” Zarkon snarled. “You  _ will _ pay for your insolence, boy,”

“Ah, I don’t think so,” Lotor replied. “Face me, father, and we’ll see who really deserves this throne. I am as powerful as you, you’re blood has guaranteed it.”

Zarkon drew his sword and attacked, yet Lotor met him easily with his own sword. Keith stepped back to where Lance stood and shot him a look of confusion.

While Lotor and Zarkon battled it out, Keith grabbed Lance’s arm. “ _ This was not part of the plan, _ ” He hissed lowly. “ _ What the actual fuck?” _

“Um, improvise?” Lance responded, keeping his blaster aimed for any Galra guards that came rushing around the corner. There were already a few lying in the hallway where Lance had shot them.

Meanwhile, the battle outside continued to rage as the lions tore apart ship and the rebels bombarded the place with lasers and bombs. 

“I wonder how it’s going inside,” Pidge whispered. “They’ll let us know when it’s over, right?”

“If they make it out, yes,”

“You mean  _ when _ they make it out,”

“Yeah.”

Lotor and Zarkon continued to fight, by now the throne (control) room was in pieces, the energy they were flinging off of their swords decimating the room around them. Keith had his shield up, defending Lance’s back while he defended Keith’s. 

Lotor continued to parry and thrust rapidly, but Zarkon--even if he was like thousands of years old--was still keeping up with the younger Galra’s attacks. The druid had stayed down, thankfully. If Lance hadn’t aimed right, they would have to deal with that one as well.

“Stars above,” Lance whispered, “Why didn’t we see something stupidly dramatic like this coming?”

“Not sure, just our luck, right?” Keith replied easily as he deflected another wave of energy.

“Keith?” 

“Yeah?”   
“If we make it out of this I’m never letting you go, alright?”

Keith smiled. “Right back at you, babe,”

“I’m going to take you on a date to my favorite restaurant back in my hometown, my mom is going to love you, and you can stay with my family until we’re called back to space.”

“I’m holding you to that date,”

“Good, now don’t die,”

“Got it,”

Lotor stumbled back, barely deflecting the next attack that Zarkon threw at him. He managed to step out of the way, gasping for air.

“You were foolish to come here,” Zarkon hissed. “As stupid and foolish as your mother.” Lotor straightened at that, snarling angrily as he launched into another attack. 

“I’m going to kill you for what you did to her,” Lotor spat.

Zarkon laughed, yet, he fumbled. Lotor saw his chance and leaped forward, driving his sword straight through Zarkon’s chest. It went horribly silent in the room--or what was left of the room.

“You will never hurt another soul again,” Lotor said, pressing his sword even further. “Die.”

With that, Zarkon collapsed, and Lotor withdrew his sword, burning the blood off of it with a simple flick of his wrist. Keith and Lance watched a bit fearfully as Lotor stepped over his father’s dead body and approached the throne, plopping into it without hesitation. “Well, dear paladins,” He started, voice as empty as his pale yellow eyes. “The war is won.”

~

The aftermath of the battle was no easy task to take care of. The Galra fell into line under Lotor’s supposed control, and he and Allura signed a treaty that promised that the Galra would retract their hold on the universe.

It was as good as they could get. Leaving Lotor with power was not the first choice they would have gone with, but it was the best they could get.

The Paladins were on their way home, having won all of the battles they could. Coran and Allura provided them with communicators and a promise to call on them whenever the need be. The Alteans had decided to scour the universe for any sign of what else their people may have left behind, as well as assuring peace fell throughout the galaxy.

“We never know what Lotor’s next move will be,” Allura had said. “Whether he might keep his word or whether we will fight again, but for now, this is farewell, dear paladins.” Hugs had gone around, and god bless their souls, Shiro and Allura  _ finally  _ kissed. They had an agreement that after Shiro visited Earth for a few months, he would go back to space to help the Alteans with their mission.

Keith laughed, bumping Shiro’s arm with a whisper of “Can’t keep away from her, can you?” Shiro had elbowed him back with a roll of his eyes as Keith snickered. 

Matt and Pidge were sitting in what they had all dubbed the ‘living room’ talking excitedly about going home. They had picked their father up from the rebel safehold on the way back, and although he had lost the ability to walk, the healing pods had done miracles for his other injuries, and now he was sitting with his kids as Earth approached.

When Earth came into view, some tears fell, but they knew that they would always be connected no matter what. Goodbyes were sad over and over again, and the Alteans weren’t able to thank the Earthlings enough. They had become a family over the time they had fought, and even if there would always be the threat of conflict, they could face it together, as one.

Keith and Lance held hands as they left the castle ship, setting foot on Earth once again, the breeze picking up and wrapping around them. Fresh air, earth air, Keith breathed it in deeply, he had missed this place, even if for awhile he hadn’t thought that he would have anything to come back to.

“We won,” Lance whispered. “It took a lot, but we won,”

Keith nodded, leaning his head against Lance’s shoulder. “I miss the thrill already,”

“Don’t be stupid, we have a date to uphold,”

“Hell yeah,” Keith grinned as they walked, he took one last look over his shoulder at the castle ship and waved at his friends. They had memories that would never fade and friendships that were stronger than ever.

And in the end, that was what it had taken to win a war. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEYYY thank you all so much for all of the love and support you gave me on this fic, it means so much to me seeing that this was my first fic in this fandom and I was totally just writing on a whim. Love you all so much <3  
> If you want to hmu @hauntedbyangels.tumblr.com or @siruniwhale.tumblr.com are the places to be now ;^)   
> Also if you wanna check out my other fics, that'd be pretty neat, I really appreciate all of your support <3


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